Material matters
We’ve made great progress with our products and selection. Our customers have an increasing number of sustainable GNFR products to choose from, including our bio-hangers, which are made from grass, produced locally, and are CO2 neutral.
We’ve worked with an increasing number of customers to supply them with bags for life, to reduce their overall plastic waste and enable re-use for as long as possible. Our PE cash bags are now made from 80% post-consumer recycled material, making them a more sustainable option for customers who are also concerned about their environmental footprint.
Another change has been our focus on sourcing and producing single-composition products wherever possible to make them easier to recycle. We’re conscious that we need to ensure the circularity of everything we’re doing, not just making easier choices.
An area where we have made a real difference is the reduction in our packaging waste. Our commitment to fulfilling orders as completely as we can has seen us use just 0.86 metres of stuffing materials in 2023. That’s a considerable decrease on 2022 and proves what can happen when we reflect on how we can make impactful change.
Wherever possible we want to avoid empty space, so we’ve also established our “Full Pallet” initiative where we encourage our customers to order a complete pallet. This means that when we receive their items from our suppliers, we don’t have to unwrap the pallet to then re-wrap in smaller quantities to be delivered to our customers.
This approach has led to a 17% reduction in plastic waste.
We saw a 4% increase in our cardboard and paper waste in 2023, mostly down to our relocation. The installation of a card compressor has helped us to collect compressed card and paper, to then sell back to the waste processor. We hope to see improved cardboard waste figures in 2024 thanks to this approach.
Emissions
Tracking emissions is incredibly important up and down our supply chain. And in areas where we have less control, especially Scope 2 emissions, we have work to do.
But we are working hard ourselves, and with our suppliers and partners, to introduce changes that will gradually bring down emissions across the supply chain.
Our Scope 1 emissions have reduced by over 20 tonnes in 2023. This is mostly due to our new office that is heated by a heat pump, using natural gas. We also decided to turn off heating in our warehouse to reduce gas consumption which has helped our Scope 1 emissions to reduce.
The move to electric vehicles in our fleet and the running of our heat pump, has seen our electricity consumption increase. We recognise that there is work to do with our Scope 2 emissions because of this, but we hope to purchase renewable energy in the future to help with this.
Our outbound transport emissions have reduced on 2022 figures by 490 tonnes. Much of our outbound transport goes to locations that are close by, in mainland Europe which helps us to keep emissions low. We also have a partnership with DHL, who deliver 90% of our outbound packages, where the transportation of our goods is 100% offset under its GoGreen programme.
Overall, our transport activities (inbound and outbound) are 14% down on 2022. By working with partners that will prioritise packing and transportation in the most efficient ways, we are making a positive impact on our Scope 3 emissions.
Sustainable staff
We have new appointment at Worldpack as we have employed Daan van Vlierden as Sustainability Officer. His role is to enable us to continue making positive changes, highlighting new opportunities and encouraging us all to prioritise sustainability in every area of the business.
Daan says: “I’m delighted about the new role and the opportunity to continue raising the bar when it comes to our sustainable offering to both customers and in terms of looking at our own operations to see where we can make further changes. It’s exciting times and the publishing of this year’s Sustainability report is excellent timing for me to benchmark future activity.”
We’ve also employed dedicated product pickers and packers, whose roles are dedicated to ensuring that all orders are packed in the most sustainable way. Minimising packaging waste and maximising the environmental efficiency of every order we send out.
The Believe Academy offers Worldpack employees the opportunity to become sustainable and socially responsible. It offers training on Life Cycle Assessments, Single Use Plastic legislation, the Green Deal and sector-specific sustainability topics. Not only does this make our employees more aware of their own impact here at Worldpack, but it helps them to make our customers aware of their impact and guide their product choices to more sustainable options.
Ethical supply chain
Having an ethical supply chain is a huge part of our Sustainability with Guts approach. Over recent years, we’ve worked hard to ensure we source locally wherever possible and from lower-risk countries to ensure a good quality supply chain.
But we recognise that this isn’t always possible. Our use of suppliers in high-risk countries has increased in 2023, partly due to the political landscape in Europe but partly because we recognise that product quality and affordability are not always easy to find closer to home.
For this reason, we carefully audit the 34% of suppliers who are based in high-risk countries.
We conduct quality and capability audits alongside social accountability audits to make sure that the products being produced are up to regulatory standards as well as the working conditions and environment for staff.
Where a supplier fails our audit, they are given an opportunity to rectify any problems found and we will re-audit to assess if things have improved to a satisfactory level. If we are still unsatisfied then we reserve the right to terminate our contract based on this.
Our commitment to doing good is only worthwhile if we stand by these principles.
Lastly, to help spread our impact wider than our own reach, we donated €5,000 to The Ocean Cleanup to help them develop cleanup technologies that will improve oceans all over the world.
As we’ve said before, reducing our carbon footprint is a gradual effort that we will continuously need to give time and attention to. You can read our latest Sustainability Report in full to see how we’re continuing to make great strides towards Net Zero in 2030.
If you want to partner with people that strengthen your sustainability goals, speak to our team on +31 (0) 88 494 20 80 or email us at online@worldpack.eu.
