Becoming a truly sustainable business can feel like climbing a mountain but, step by step, UKOS is making genuine progress
Read the full article below or on page 16 in our May magazine
What if sustainability wasn’t just a bolt-on part of your business? What if it was so deeply ingrained that every business decision had the good of the environment at heart? That’s how things are for UKOS, a Hertfordshire-based business supplies firm with an impressive track record in sustainability. We sat down with managing director, Ian Haywood to find out how it’s done.
“I believe that to be commercially successful, an organisation must give full consideration to sustainability – it’s no longer an option. The challenge is to keep moving and improving – we’re very focused on that,”Ian said.
UKOS is quite far along its sustainability road. Sustainability is not just part of the business strategy; it’s the core of everything UKOS does. “We’ve been on a sustainability journey since before 2010 when The Sunday Times rated us ‘The Greenest Company in Great Britain,’ so it’s always been core to our business,” Ian explains. “I make no apology for saying one of the key drivers is commercial consideration.”
He has a point. Commercially, sustainability ticks many boxes. It often leads to efficiency and cost savings for everyone in the supply chain and so is win-win all round.
Low carbon logistics
Turning to the future, Ian’s emphasis is on further diversification, something he says was well-progressed over the past year. However, as always, the main focus is sustainability, “in particular we are working hard on low carbon logistics.”
Since 2008 the company has achieved a 72% reduction in delivery miles. This has been achieved through three key levers – eco delivery schedules, designed to reduce the number of deliveries being undertaken, encouraging customers to increase average order sizes and introducing telematic software to facilitate more efficient driving behaviour.
Logistics and customer deliveries in particular – is one of a dealers’ biggest contributions to their carbon footprint. As a business on the path to net zero, UKOS is keenly focused on cracking that nut. The company has switched its van fleet to electric delivery vehicles and recently opened a low carbon logistics hub. Collaboration with customers and suppliers to remove carbon from the joint supply chain is considered integral to the business model.
Selling sustainability
From print to facilities supplies, office interiors to workwear and PPE, UKOS has found a way to integrate sustainability into every arm of the business. At the other end of the cycle, the firm offers various recycling solutions across every product range, and actively works to help its customers reduce their consumption of business supplies – but is selling sustainability easy? Ian says it can be.
“Sustainable solutions are often more efficient and, typically, reduce costs – a very helpful coincidence which aids the sales process. Sustainable products can be more challenging, certainly, but the key considerations are communication, data, clear facts and collaboration with your customers.”
Product may be challenging, but UKOS is making inroads into offering its customers the most sustainable solutions out there. Its catalogue it lists more than 2,250 sustainable products, made from ingredients that are responsibly sourced, with low or reduced carbon footprints, non-polluting manufacturing processes and responsible use of packaging.
In terms of products, these range from Eucalyptus Globus fibre paper, sustainable interior products and fit-out solutions, environmentally friendly PPE and janitorial products, and Fairtrade catering products. UKOS has also adopted a single-use plastic policy, which aims to reduce single-use plastics in its product range and to offer composable alternatives where possible.
Offering sustainability as part of your proposition isn’t always easy, but it is important that dealers implement truly sustainable solutions, and avoid anything which might be perceived as greenwashing. “Selling sustainability is an open door – in fact, more and more, it’s becoming a condition of doing business,” says Ian. “I would suggest that dealers who are still early in their sustainability journeys focus on actually delivering real sustainability and sustainable solutions. Selling them won’t be a problem!”
Pressing ahead on the journey
For UKOS, the journey is well underway, but it’s far from over. As well as adopting electric delivery vehicles, the company has opened a low-carbon warehouse, complete with ground source heating and cooling, solar power, high-spec insulation and LED auto lighting. “The reduction in use of fossil fuel energy is enormous,” Ian is keen to point out.
The long-term objective of UKOS is to eliminate waste and carbon across its value chain. For those familiar with net zero, this is the oh-so-tricky Scope 3 target, which considers emissions that businesses are indirectly responsible for which means driving change among its suppliers, as well as within its own business.
Scope 3 is well known to be the most difficult of all the net zero targets, and the one that terrifies most business owners, but UKOS is taking the bull by the horns, and is actively working in collaboration with their supply chain partners
Looking ahead, the UKOS journey towards net zero continues. “We expect to achieve some key certification later this year, which we’re very excited about and, of course, net zero is a major focus. We have also just begun our journey toward becoming a B-Corp. However, greater collaboration and re-engineering in our supply chain is where we feel real and tangible progress can be best achieved.” The great work already done by UKOS, and its ongoing pursuit of net zero status, serves as an inspiration to us all. It just goes to prove it can be done, and gives hope for a greener future.
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