Sustainable Business

A force for good - every day of the week

Long-term thinking is essential when building a business that’s ready for the future. A lot has changed since we started, not least our commitment to doing the right thing and hard-wiring sustainable practices into every aspect of our business. But there’s always more that can be done.

MENZIES DISTRIBUTION TARGETS NET ZERO BY 2035

This marks a major milestone in our long-standing commitment to hard-wire sustainable practices into every aspect of our business.

 

A force for good – every day of the week.

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CIRCULAR IS THE ONLY WAY FORWARD

Sustainability wasn’t a buzz word in 1833. But we were designing sustainable routes to market even then. And it’s still a core pillar of our business today – because we believe circular processes are the only ones that will stand the test of time. From day one, we built reverse logistics into our newstrade supply chain. Every year we drive over 275,400 emission free miles.

Group Environment Policy ESG Report 2023

There are three main areas we focus on to make our business more sustainable and impact our journey to zero, these are; fleet, energy consumption & reuse & recycling for ourselves and our partners.

 

With innovations that span fleet electrification, vehicle to grid charging, vehicle design, alternative fuels, making our property estate low carbon, removing the need for PVC in vehicle livery, we are committed to shaping logistics for the future that directly address the climate change crisis, and other environmental concerns.

 

View Group Environment Policy

Innovative thinking is a part of our culture. We’re continually learning, looking for ways to refine and streamline the way we work and create a more sustainable future for people, businesses and the planet. We bring this mentality to the solutions we create for our partners too – making sure they don’t have to compromise between people, profit or the planet.

 

We are pleased to share this ESG report publicly, to give all our stakeholders a deeper overview of our achievements to date and our plans for an even better future.

 

View ESG Report 2023

Route optimisation has cut miles, reduced emissions and saved time

2.3m kg
CO2 SAVED
1.5%
REDUCTION IN DELIVERY TIME
67%
CO2 EMISSIONS REDUCED
275,400
EMISSION FREE MILES DRIVEN PA
100%
RENEWABLES ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Driver efficiency training as standard

  • Every driver’s behaviour is tracked through specialist telematics.
  • Regular training to reduce fuel consumption, improve safety and increase efficiency.

A network of communities

We’re on every high street, every day. Which makes us connected to people nationally as well as locally – and that means our deliveries are the lifeblood of communities across the UK. For convenience stores we supply the newspapers that keep their customers coming back day after day. And for the people who run them we’re reliable, making sure their stores are fully stocked and their livelihoods are secure.

 

As for our own business, our aim is to be a sensible, responsible employer. We’ve been providing good jobs to local people for generations, making sure those in the communities in which we’re based have the job security and stability that helps them to thrive. We’ll do whatever we can to continue working like this for many more generations to come.

 

Giving back and helping out

Each year we partner with five one-of-a-kind charities that are close to the hearts of our team. Nominated by our staff, we spend a year helping these five charities with projects and fundraising so they can achieve their goals.

Our Charity Partners

A better fleet today makes a brighter tomorrow

275,400 miles are driven by our fleet every day. So making sure we do it in a way that’s best for the planet makes a material difference.

The future’s electric

We introduced our dedicated electric fleet because we know that fossil fuels aren’t sustainable. It’s our priority to expand it at pace – far ahead of regulatory deadlines.

 

For every electric vehicle we introduce, we’re improving air quality, cutting particulates and reducing harmful nitric oxide emissions. To enable this fleet to make as many carbon neutral deliveries as possible, we’ve established a large commercial charging infrastructure in the UK. Through extensive trials, we’ve found the most energy efficient vehicle-to-grid charging process – meaning we charge at off-peak times and return spare charge to the grid at peak times when energy is in high-demand. We know it’s only a start but we’ll continue to make small changes that make a big difference.

OUR IMPACT THROUGH CHOOSING ELECTRIC

  • Over 275,400 emission free miles driven every year
  • 10 million items delivered emissions free in 2019
  • 2.5m kg of CO2 saved by replacing diesel with electric
  • PVC-free livery – biodegradable and free from toxic chemicals
  • Zero-emission rural deliveries including the Scottish Highlands & Islands

LOOK AHEAD TO STAY AHEAD

As for the rest of our fleet, we’re making sure every aspect is as sustainable as it can be. So far, improvements to vehicle design have made the bodywork more aerodynamic. The introduction of air deflectors has reduced vehicle drag by 30% and increased fuel efficiency by 10-15%.

 

Our fuel partner offsets the carbon from pipe to pump by tree plantation schemes, and the fuel itself has special additives to reduce harmful engine deposits that impact on air quality. Our diesel vehicles are efficient enough to be certified as Euro 6 industry standard – the toughest and lowest emissions limits in history – and meet the criteria for Low and Ultra-Low Emissions Zones and the UK’s Clean Air Zones.

LOOK AHEAD TO STAY AHEAD

10-15%

more efficient By integrating air deflectors into vehicle design

A POWERFUL CHANGE IN ENERGY

100% of the power used across our sites is from clean, renewable sources, namely wind and hydro. Many of our sites are internally lit with LED lighting, and externally with Passive Infrared that detects motion to further reduce the amount of energy used by each bulb. In our Sheffield depot alone, this switch is saving around 90,000 kg of CO2 per year – the same amount as 100 return tickets from London to LA.

Environment & Sustainability Policy

Today, we have a clear focus for the future. We aim to reduce our total energy consumption by around 20% through the following five action points:

1
Automatic temperature control
2
Automated power down of all electrical items
3
Efficient lighting – LED and motion sensors
4
Economical roof insulation & suspended ceilings
5
Boilers that save power on hot water and heating

OUR FOUNDATION IS DESIGNED TO LAST

Reducing our impact is only part of our drive to make Menzies Distribution a more sustainable business.
But what about the other two R’s; reuse and recycle?

26,993 TONNES

Of material recovered and recycled every year – the equivalent of 135 Blue Whales

 

DEDICATED SORTING CENTRE

Sites dedicated to processing goods back into the supply chain and reducing waste

MAGAZINE GIFTS

Collecting and sorting front-of-pack gifts for reuse since the 1990s

6,187,805 RETURNS IN ONE YEAR

Between Nov 2019 and Oct 2020, we helped to stop over 6m items from going straight to landfill

The Road to Zero

Our overarching CSR strategy is the Road to Zero — our ambition to achieve Zero Harm, Zero Waste and Zero Emissions.

 

We see ensuring a safe working environment and positive safety culture as fundamental to our business, and we strive to ensure our business activities do not impact on the communities in which we operate and that our vehicles travel through.

 

We also work hard to be as efficient as we can, maximising loads on every route, reducing the number of journeys we make and ensuring we incorporate the latest technology into our work.

 

Some of our latest achievements include:

 

  • Reducing CO2 per vehicle kilometre by 12.3%
  • Reducing CO2 per square foot of warehouse space by more than 60%
  • Increasing liquid loads per tanker by an average 4.2% by using a lightweight chassis
  • Using longer semi-trailers, double-deck and triple-deck trailers to reduce road miles
  • Installing solar panels at our Wakefield site which will generate around 200,000 kWh of renewable energy per year, helping to avoid more than 50 tonnes of annual CO2 emissions
  • Saving 90,000kg of CO2 by installing LED lighting across our Sheffield site