Areas of particular importance to us include water use, energy consumption including transport, and the use and disposal of detergents. Our business units focus continually on these areas, and are always looking at initiatives that will reduce consumption:

 

Water recovery

We use water recovery systems in the majority of our operations, as they reduce water consumption by between 20% and 25%. Reduced water consumption also results in lower energy used to heat up water for washing, and subsequently less energy waste.

 

Reducing heat and energy loss

Our strategy to reduce heat and energy loss is to install new and more efficient technology in those parts of our operations where most energy is used, and where there will be a significant environmental benefit. For our laundry operations, this typically means boilers and driers.

 

New technology has helped us control the use of energy by recycling hot water, recovering energy from boiler exhaust gas, recovering heat from drier exhaust, monitoring tumbler temperatures to optimise drying time and recovering high pressure steam for use elsewhere in the laundry process. New technologies have typically reduced energy consumption by between 10% and 30%, depending on the operation concerned.

 

Group-wide CO₂ reporting

Several of our business units have a history of measuring and monitoring their CO₂ emissions. However, during the second quarter of 2010, we implemented a group-wide policy to ensure that all business units will in future follow their good example and will measure, monitor and report CO₂ emissions data after having applied consistent criteria and formulae.

 

Since August 2010, all business units have been measuring and reporting their Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions, with results compared between laundry and other sites. These emission measurements are calculated using each country's local conversion factors and are further analysed across the different utilities used, such as oil, gas, electricity and diesel/petrol.

 

Optimising detergent usage

We work closely with our detergent suppliers to find ways to optimise our usage of detergents and decrease the use of water in rinsing, as well as energy. We have already progressed significantly in this field, for instance by installing water and heat recovery/recycling systems that reduce the volume of detergent solids disposed of in effluent. These initiatives have typically resulted in a reduction in detergent usage of approximately 10%.

 

Working with skilled partners

We work closely with Ecolab, one of our major chemical suppliers and an experienced provider of energy saving consultancy services. Together, we are recognising opportunities to reduce water and energy consumption by identifying likely areas for potential capital expenditure and/or process change.

 

Shortening delivery distances

We are mindful of any future national or local legislation in this area and are continually working towards meeting and exceeding requirements. We regularly review our vehicle routes to ensure the most efficient use of our fleet resources and fuel while recognising customers' individual requirements.