Environmental Impact
The David Luke Supply Chain spans the globe, from our factories around the world, through our Distribution Centre in Manchester, and then on to our customers throughout the UK. A single garment can make a journey covering thousands of miles and be handled by dozens of people. A sustainable supply chain is one that meets the needs of today without affecting the viability of the future. To achieve this we must consider our environmental impact and focus on maximising efficiency, reducing the affect we have on the world's resources.
The sustainable supply chain - actions speak louder than words
As the need to try and lessen our collective carbon footprint increases, some companies run the risk of being daubed with the 'greenwash' brush - the inference being that they are paying nothing more than lip service to the pressing ecological issues of the day. At David Luke we believe that actions speak louder than words.
We have implemented a number of initiatives and are working with our suppliers and contractors to develop new ways of working that will ensure we put People & Environment at the centre of our future. We now recycle a significant proportion of our waste and are striving for zero landfill in the near future. In 2008 David Luke was awarded the ISO14001 accreditation for our Environmental Management System.
Transport
Proper planning is essential and relies on both suppliers and retailers playing their part. Our biggest environmental impact is transport, whether it is the ship carrying containers from the Far East, or a Sprinter Van making a delivery to a customer. Nearly every form of transport produces carbon dioxide that adds to the global Greenhouse Effect.
Consolidating deliveries, where possible, is a simple way to improve this. Frequent, small deliveries are much less efficient than infrequent, large deliveries. A Parcel Company may deliver 1 box to a customer 3 days a week. In some instances, with the proper planning, this could be 1 delivery a week of 3 boxes. Therefore, the van has only made 1 trip to the customer instead of 3. We apply the same principle to the inbound deliveries from our suppliers, consolidating where possible, to make a more efficient supply chain. Both our Parcel Carriers have recently launched high performance, zero emission vehicles and over the coming years these will completely replace the diesel equivalents.
Environmental awareness and the drive for sustainability is pricking the conscience of business and industry like never before. Together we can achieve the goal of a sustainable Supply Chain that meets the needs of today without affecting the viability of the future.
