Environment
2007/08 Corporate Social Responsibility Report
Waste and recycling
Recycling is something which most of us do automatically at home; we are used to sorting our rubbish and putting different types out to be collected and recycled on different days. At Alliance Boots we are encouraging our people to bring these behaviours and philosophies to work. We want all our employees to not just recycle the waste they are responsible for but also to look for ways to take waste out of the processes they are responsible for so that where there is waste it is recyclable. This is how we are endeavouring to create a truly sustainable business.
Waste by method of disposal and by division
for the year ended 31 March 2008
By division
49% of the waste we create is recycled: We are pleased with the progress we are making but are continuing to develop projects that reduce the overall amount of waste we create rather than just recycling more of what we produce e.g. the removal of transit packaging from stores deliveries.
Our recycling performance across the Group is consistent with around half being recycled across each Division.
Less waste at Contract Manufacturing
Our manufacturing facilities have been working hard to reduce the amount of waste they produce and also to support making our products more sustainable. Our in-house blow moulding facility at Nottingham in the UK makes plastic bottles for use in our adjacent factory. The waste generated from extrusion blow moulding high-density polyethylene and polypropylene packaging is all re-used so that no waste is generated. In addition we have more than doubled the amount of post consumer recycled PET packaging used in forming the bottles from 5.0 tonnes in 2006 to 12.6 tonnes in 2007. An important benefit of having on-site blow moulding and filling facilities is that the packaging does not need to be separately transported before filling and this is estimated to save approximately 3,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum. Thanks to improved sorting processes within our factories, we have increased the amount of waste we recycle to 55%.
“Creating a truly sustainable business”