Plastic Pledge Update - May 2021

05 May 2021

Plastic Pledge Update - May 2021

We want to do our part to help reduce plastic waste and limit the amount of single-use plastic throughout our entire business. 

We're also keen to ensure as little material (plastic, paper and cardboard) as possible is wasted or thrown away, and what little does need to be disposed of is recycled responsibly, as it is now.

Update May 2021:

Since the introduction of our Plastic Pledge in May 2020 we've made great strides to reduce the amount of single-use plastic we use, primarily by focusing on the sorting bags we were using to pick and check your orders, plus the plastic-based logo tape we were using to pack all our parcels.

Our 2020 Pledges and our Progress Since:

• Reduce our single use plastic bag use by at least 75% for the period between now and 1st March 2021, compared with the same period the previous year

We are extremely happy to report we achieved this goal over the last year, with a reduction in use of single-use plastic sorting bags of over 80% during the given period. Between the start of March '19 to end of February '20 we ordered and used 84,500 of these bags. Between the start of March '20 to end of February '21 we ordered and used 15,000 of these bags, a reduction of 82.25%. We will continue to reduce the use of these bags wherever possible and hope to eliminate their use completely in future.

• Completely eliminate the use of plastic-based tape on boxes we despatch before 1st September 2020

We are also very happy to report we also achieved this goal, with the introduction of our new paper-based logo tape in August 2020 and elimination of plastic-based tape prior to September. Over the course of the year this led to a reduction in plastic-based tape use of over 90%. Between the start of March '19 to end of February '20 we ordered and used 3,240 150m rolls of this tape. Between the start of March '20 to end of February '21 we ordered and used 289 150m rolls of this tape, a reduction of 91.08%. As we have no eliminated the use of plastic-based tapes to pack our parcels, we do not plan to order or use any more such tape again, leading to a 100% reduction compared to our previous usage.

• Zero recyclable plastic waste to go to landfill from any part of our operation by 1st April 2021 - every piece either gets re-used or recycled

This one is more difficult to quantify and substantiate, however our warehouse team have been extremely vigilant in this area and we are happy to confirm we are successfully re-using or recycling every piece of recyclable plastic waste that comes in to the business.

We're very proud of the steps we've taken to reduce our impact on the environment, however we're not content to stop with the progress we've made so far. In order to continue to minimise single-use plastics throughout our business, we have set ourselves the following goals for 2021-22:

Our 2021 Pledges:

1. The majority of our suppliers still use large amounts of single-use plastic when sending orders in to us. We pledge to work closely with our supplier partners and request they also look in to ways to minimise single-use plastics, helping us achieve our goal of eliminating unnecessary plastic use throughout our entire supply chain.
   
2. Completely eliminate the use of plastic-based outer shipping bags used when sending smaller orders by sourcing a weatherproof, sustainable paper-based alternative.
3. Source an alternative protective coating for the covers of our annual Gas, LPG, Oil & Heating Spares catalogue - the covers for our catalogues are currently coated in a thin plastic laminate to increase durability as they are continually used and flicked through over the course of a whole year. We have already begun discussions with our printing partner to look at more eco-friendly options for protecting the covers of our catalogues in future. Unfortunately these discussions took place too late to successfully source an alternative laminating option for our 2021 catalogue, however we pledge to use 100% plastic-free materials in our 2022 catalogue.

We also intend to look at other ways in which we can improve the sustainability of our overall business, not just relating to single-use plastics. From the ways we work internally to the environmental impact of the delivery services we use, we are committed to continually improving the sustainability of our entire operation. We plan to replace our Plastic Pledge with a full sustainability plan from 2022.

As always we welcome any feedback and suggestions from our customers to improve our business and serve our customers as well as we possibly can. If there is anything you would like to share with us please do not hesitate to get in touch, [email protected]

Many thanks as always, Team HWOS.