Energy Use
Reducing Emissions from Transport
Most of our products are transported by road. We have our own small fleet of vehicles which are mainly used for smaller deliveries to local shops and newsagents. But we also use companies such as Eddie Stobart Ltd to transport bulk deliveries to supermarkets and other large customers. These deliveries account for over 16 million road miles every year – this equates to roughly 0.5% of all HGV food miles under taken in the UK7
We’ve been working to reduce emissions from both our own fleet and our industry partners. So far these green distribution initiatives have saved 300,000 road miles, or 450 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. This is equivalent to the carbon emissions of 75 households.8
Reducing our own emissions
We’re reducing the carbon footprint of our own vehicles through better journey planning and by using smaller vehicles for smaller loads. We’re also reducing harmful exhaust emissions by using a special exhaust gas treatment system known as Selective Catalytic Reduction.
This is enabling Coca-Cola Enterprises to meet the highest environmental emissions standards (Euro 5) and adopt best practice well ahead of the legal requirement for new vehicles in October 2009. By the end of 2007, about 50% of our 265-strong fleet of local delivery vehicles will meet this standard.
Made in Great Britain
We recognise that consumers are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of food miles – the distance that food and drink products have to travel between the manufacturing site and the point of purchase.
To help consumers identify which products have been manufactured by Coca-Cola Enterprises in Great Britain, we now include a ’Made in GB’ label on many of our products. This indicates that our cans and bottles have been made locally rather than outside of Great Britain, and will have travelled less distance.
Working with Industry to reduce emissions
- 300,000
- miles saved each year through our green distribution initiatives.
In 2006, CCE’s Director of Logistics led an industry-wide ’green distribution’ initiative in partnership with Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) and the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) to try and reduce the environmental impact of transportation. This involved sharing years of experience to encourage retailers and manufacturers to collaborate beyond the boundaries of traditional commercial relationships.
The initiative investigated ways in which retailers and suppliers could work together to improve efficiency, cut vehicle miles and transport costs and reduce the environmental impact of transportation. It aimed to identify opportunities for collaborative working across communities of retailers and suppliers – even if they are not direct trading partners – and to encourage them to be more efficient by pooling space on sections of journeys where vehicles would otherwise be running empty.
Collaboration across the 20 participating organisations identified a potential reduction of between 10,000 and 15,000 loads or approximately two million miles per year. Many of the organisations involved in the initiative have, like CCE, gone on to embed this best practice into their organisations.
Partnership with Alliance Boots
As part our work to reduce emissions from transport, we’ve formed an innovative partnership with Alliance Boots. This has involved careful analysis of the flow of products from our manufacturing sites in Great Britain through our own distribution network as well as through the network used by Alliance Boots to distribute our products to individual stores.
As a result, we identified an opportunity to deliver directly from our own regional warehouses to Boots’ regional depots, avoiding the need to consolidate stock through the Boots national warehouse in Nottingham.
For more information on our partnerships with Alliance Boots and Eddie Stobart see www.igd.com/collaborativegreendistribution
Partnership with Eddie Stobart Ltd
A superb example of collaborative distribution in action has been Eddie Stobart Limited and Coca-Cola Enterprises. They worked together to uncover opportunities to fill otherwise empty vehicles, and adapted aspects of their vehicles and warehousing.” GAVIN CHAPPELL, ECR UK’S COLLABORATIVE GREEN DISTRIBUTION CO-CHAIR
CCE and Eddie Stobart Ltd have been working together since March 2004 to fully utilise the fleet of lorries that delivers raw materials to our manufacturing sites and transfers our drinks to our distribution centres.
By carefully exploring vehicle patterns and adjusting our scheduling, we’ve been able to eliminate over half a million miles of empty journeys since the start of the project.
For more information on our partnerships with Alliance Boots and Eddie Stobart see www.igd.com/collaborativegreendistribution
Rail Freight
We’re working with Tesco and Eddie Stobart Ltd to ensure the success of a dedicated rail freight route between Tesco’s distribution centre in Livingston and the Daventry International Rail Freight terminal.
Under this partnership, 10% of the goods on each south-bound journey are made up of products from Coca-Cola Enterprises’ East Kilbride manufacturing site, ready for distribution to Tesco stores. In total, the freight train service will replace over 13,000 lorry journeys – equivalent to three million lorry miles every year.
7 DEFRA
8 Energy Savings Trust
