Retailers may be grabbing the headlines with their state-of-the-art eco-stores, Plan As and plastic bag reduction initiatives, but wholesalers are doing their bit to address the whole green agenda as well. Beth Phillips reports


Kermit the Frog once sang that it wasn't easy being green. Wholesalers, with their massive delivery fleets and networks of depots, know what he means.

Take Brakes, for example. It has 60 depots across the UK, including one in Motherwell that has a 54,000 sq ft freezer roughly the size of a football pitch. Last year alone its fleet of more than 1,700 delivery vehicles travelled 45 million miles. Between the trucks and the freezers, that's a lot of energy use and the nature of wholesaling means businesses take vast amounts of energy from the National Grid to power their depots, and their lorries can pump tonnes of emissions into the air.

But things are changing. In recent years, wholesalers have put other businesses in the food and drink sector to shame with initiatives to prove they can make a difference to the environment.

One trailblazer in eco-wholesaling is 3663 First for Foodservice, which won the Green Wholesaler of the Year Award at The Grocer Gold Awards in June after impressing the judges with its commitment to green principles, including gathering 93% of its energy from renewables.

Since picking up the award, 3663 has merged its operations in Kent to open a 'super depot'. The 120,000 sq ft, £17.6m development, which opened last month in Paddock Wood, was built with reclaimed and reused materials. It features a waste recovery area where packaging is collected for recycling and a rainwater collection facility to wash vehicles and flush toilets. "The opening of Paddock Wood is a milestone on the way to achieving our vision of sustainable leadership in foodservice distribution," says CEO Fred Barnes.

"Transport and distribution aren't high up on anyone's list of eco-friendly businesses, but we set out more than a decade ago to make this business as green as it could be, and Paddock Wood is proof of our long-term commitment."

Long-term is a word all wholesalers are keen to stress. Awards and column inches in newspapers may bring short-term recognition to a company, but cutting costs and meeting government legislation top their agenda, especially as wholesalers will be among businesses hit by new government legislation next year (see p46).

Tough targets
It is one of the biggest issues facing wholesalers, says James Bielby, director general of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors. "From next year, businesses will be subject to the government's Carbon Reduction Commitment, which will penalise those who fail to cut emissions.

"The government also has a commitment to reduce the UK's carbon footprint by 80% by 2050. In order to do this its Committee on Climate Change has recommended the introduction of legally binding carbon budgets, setting ceilings on allowed emissions."

The FWD has been trying to convince the government that wholesalers are already pulling their weight and that further legislation would be over the top. "Over-regulation is not needed," Bielby says. "Heavy-handed intervention could negatively impact on future growth and, like in so many areas, legislation where it is not needed could make wholesale operations a lot more difficult."

Such legislation would be expensive to comply with, particularly at a time when most businesses are desperately trying to cut costs, he adds. Makro, which reported a loss of nearly £20m in 2007, is aiming to reduce its energy bills by 19% through a series of eco-initiatives, for instance.

In tandem with an ongoing depot refurbishment programme, the wholesaler is planning to install walk-in dairy rooms in 17 of its 30 depots, replace lighting with low-hanging energy-saving lamps in 13 depots and install new chest freezers in 15 depots this year.

Sustainability
"This energy saving programme is a step toward achieving our sustainability policy and follows a series of initiatives launched by the company over the recent months," says Georg Behrens, head of real estate, engineering and energy at Makro.

Cost cutting can be a real incentive to go green, believes Martin Williams, managing director of Landmark Wholesale. "With the ever-rising cost of fuel, it makes sense for wholesalers to look for a more economical and greener way of operating," he says.

"Landmark Wholesale has moved its head office to new purpose-built premises that have been built to the highest environmentally friendly standards and have provided a significant cost-saving on all our energy bills.

"Service, range and price are still the main factors for independent customers when choosing which wholesaler to use, but to offer all this in a greener, cleaner, more efficient offering is a strong addition to any business ethos and will become more crucial in the coming years."

Booker would agree. Over the past year the cash & carry giant has made a number of changes to its depots to protect prices for its customers.

"During 2008, in an uncertain market, the price of energy rose dramatically and then fell again," says group operations director Bryn Satherley. "Unlike other wholesalers, at no point did we impose energy surcharges on our customers, who were equally feeling the energy price hikes. We took the challenge to reduce our usage to offset any increased prices."

Together with initiatives such as lowering light fittings, using bio-fuels in vehicles and renegotiating energy contracts to reduce carbon emissions from its electricity supply, Booker reduced its energy consumption by 4.4% in 2008 by cutting 4,914 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Brakes has had similar success. According to its corporate, social and environmental responsibility report published this month, since January 2008 it has reduced its electricity usage from 75,000 MWh to 73,200 MWh, saving 967 tonnes of CO2. It has also back-hauled products to save 900,000 food miles and saved 180 tonnes of packaging material through recycling.

"I'm confident our commitment will push the boundaries of social responsibility and environmental management within Brakes and the foodservice industry generally," says CEO Frank McKay.

It's a win-win for the wholesaler and its customers, concludes Patrick Mitchell-Fox, senior business analyst for the IGD.

"Playing the critical role in the supply chains of the tens of thousands of businesses that buy from them in the independent retailing and catering sectors, wholesalers perform a central role in enabling those businesses to meet their green responsibilities and aspirations," he says. "Green initiatives are an increasingly important part of the customer relationship to keep a wholesaler's offer competitive."