Small steps, smaller footprints

By Steve Carter

What do these three things have in common?

A coalman, a chimney sweep and white dog poo.

The answer -  as a kid growing up, these were all things that I would see regularly on our street, almost daily, but not anymore. At the time they were all part of daily life, the coalman and the chimney sweep covered from head to toe in coal dust and soot; we didn’t bat an eyelid, it was normal. The white dog poo, an occupational hazard when organising a game of football on the street.

Over time things change, evolve, move on, we live in a constant state of flux and right now we are in one of the most important periods of change that we are ever likely to be involved with and together, across the whole of our industry, can make a valuable contribution towards arresting, Climate Change.

How do you start on your own journey?

No doubt you will have noticed that consumers buying patterns are changing and we are seeing a sizeable shift towards more environmentally friendly, sustainable options across all sectors of our industry. Make sure that your employees are fully trained up and have the confidence to talk about sustainability and maybe look to make somebody in your business the sustainability champion.

You may have also noticed the way in which tenders are structured has also changed, with a greater focus on sustainability, possibly asking you to demonstrate where you are on your own sustainability journey. This may seem a bit daunting in terms of how to structure an answer, but don’t let it be. Your dealer group is there to help you start your journey, to advise where to stick the pin in, how to go about it and certainly help you with any challenging tender responses.

There are things you can do immediately, that may seem small, but will help kick start your story. As an example, for those of you making deliveries on your own vehicles, when was the last time that you looked at how many deliveries it takes to complete a single order? A few lines from stock, a few more that come in from the wholesaler and out that goes next day. A day later you are delivering the last line of the order that came from another supplier. Two deliveries, one order, sound familiar? And how many times does that happen? It increases your carbon footprint and your costs. Explain to your customer that you are looking to reduce your footprint, work with them and make one delivery, they will understand, they are on a journey too.

That leaves one thing, white dog poo. I won’t spoil your breakfast – Google it. 

If you’d like to know more about how you can become part of the wider Advantia team then please do contact us today for a friendly chat.