- Team Focus | Hugo Mellouli, Head of Sales, Europe
- Introducing SANIBOX®: Enhancing our sustainable clinical waste containment solutions
- Reducing Glove Usage – A New Collaborative Solution
- Manufacturing milestones, sustainability success, and new beginnings
- Across the borders: How NHS Scotland is taking the lead in the race to net zero
Posted on by
Environment Champions Programme: How We Built Responsibility Into Our Business
As a business, our commitment is to act responsibly by designing and manufacturing the best quality products that contribute to infection control in an operational manner consistent with the principles of ‘sustainable development’. To realise our goal, we engage with multiple initiatives across our business.
Responsible Commitments
At Daniels we have a strong commitment to producing quality products; however at the same time we have recognised the need to remove costs from the supply chain, stabilise the cost of our products whilst still reducing our impact on the environment.
Cultural Commitment
Key to the successful realisation of our corporate reduction objective and responsible business commitment is the commitment that all our staff members share to reduce environmental impacts. Internally all 85 staff members are engaged with our EMS and our defined corporate long and medium term objectives, with champions in the organisation setting company best practice.
Some of our Environment Champion’s Team! From left: Cheryl, Karen, Lily, Charlotte and Imogen
Partnerships and Collaborations
Externally we also share our cultural commitment to reducing environmental impacts with partner organisations such as NHS Supply Chain.
As we have not increased our prices over the past six years we are always looking for ways to reduce our cost base. We therefore assessed key area’s within our business of which packaging is significant. Working with NHS Supply Chain we identified opportunities to improve efficiencies, to maximise pallet loads, reduce product deliveries and miles travelled. The outcome of our collaboration led to an efficiency trial on two high volume product lines (11.5L & 22L) making the move from individual packaging to loose packaging and supplying products directly to our clients. The trial produced the following savings:
- 63% reduction in the associated packaging and transportation costs of both the 11.5L & 22.5L combined
- 46 tonnes of paper saved per annum
- 19.4% more product on a pallet
- 938 pallets carrying Daniels product, the equivalent of 18 lorry journeys saved
This approach allowed us to not only retain our price stability but also reduce our impact on the environment, we have also been able to pass savings on to our clients who as a result will experience reduced amounts of waste from their product deliveries and reduced labour costs associated with the breakdown in packaging cartons.
Key learnings we have derived from our partnership with NHS Supply Chain is that working in collaboration is successful, wins are not predictable and that ultimately there is more work that needs to be done. Our next step is to continue the monitoring of progress and trial additional products. For more information please visit this page on the NHS Supply Chain website.
Corporate Objectives
In line with our core ethos of responsible business we have set a corporate objective of reducing our product carbon emissions per kg (emissions intensity) by 26% by 2020. Currently we are on track to successfully meet this target and have to date (2012) achieved a 15% reduction in emissions intensity.
To drive continual improvements we have also set additional objectives and targets to deliver medium term reductions by 2015, these are outlined as follows:
- Reduce overall energy consumption by 2.5%
- Reduce company financed car CO2/fuel consumption by 5%
- Reduce the amount of general & cardboard waste sent to landfill by 10%
Environmental Management System
One of the many initiatives we have engaged with to reduce our environmental impact is the implementation of an environmental management system (EMS). The use of an EMS enables us to manage and mitigate our identified aspects and impacts, manufacture and distribution, in addition to other impact areas such as energy and waste.
Supporting this commitment to utilising EMS’s we have successfully achieved and maintain the internationally recognised ISO 14001 EMS standard.
Eric Lanyon
Managing Director of Daniels Healthcare, part of the Mauser Group. He is responsible for the sales and distribution operation of Daniels SHARPSGUARD® Containers.
