2020 sustainablity goals on target at Brambles

Brambles commits to achieving zero wood waste and plastic waste to landfill by 2020. This is one of the goals included in the company’s Better Business, Better Planet, Better Communities sustainability program. The goals have been closely aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The global supply-chain logistics company has now published a review that includes updates on CHEP and IFCO’s sustainability program and its progress towards its 2020 Sustainability Goals.

Brambles Head of Global Sustainability Juan Jose Freijo said: “This has been another fantastic year for sustainability at Brambles, in which we have continued our excellent progress towards our 2020 goals.”

Examples of Brambles’ achievements reported in the 2017 Sustainability Review include:

Better Business

Brambles operates a circular business model, specialising in the sharing and re-use of unit load equipment, including more than 590 million pallets, crates and containers. In FY17, customers’ use of CHEP and IFCO platforms saved 1.6 million trees, 2.5 million metric tonnes of CO₂ emissions and 1.4 million metric tonnes of solid waste. Brambles also initiated transport collaboration projects with over 200 customers to remove 64.7 million empty truck kilometres from the world’s supply chains.

Better Planet

In FY17, 99.1% of the timber used by CHEP came from certified sources. Brambles also eliminated plastic waste and raw material costs by recycling 22,600 tonnes of end-of-life plastic materials into new CHEP plastic pallets and IFCO re-usable plastic crates. Brambles operations also achieved a 7.8% reduction in carbon emissions per unit and 14.3% of the electricity it consumed came from renewable sources.

Better Communities

Brambles supports food rescue organisations, educational opportunity and environmental restoration projects by providing volunteers, corporate sponsorship and in-kind donations. All permanent Brambles, IFCO and CHEP employees have access to three days of paid volunteer leave every year. In total, Brambles’ FY17 community investments were worth over US$4,376,000, a 44% increase from FY16.

“Our commitment to sustainability is at the very heart of everything we do. Through the successful combination of our circular, ‘share and re-use’ business model, global scale and supply chain expertise, we are able to reduce operating costs and demand for natural resources, both in our own company and a cross the world’s supply chains,” concluded Freijo.