Sustainable products
Preserving the planet’s biodiversity is a key aim of sustainable development and involves all sectors of society. Commercial operations have the potential to impact on biodiversity in many ways. For Alliance Boots, the two main areas of impact arise from the sourcing of raw materials and from the facilities we operate.
Our environmental management processes seek to minimise any negative impacts. We take account of protected species and habitats, as required by national and international legislation, and encourage opportunities to promote biodiversity.
The impact of chemicals on human health and the environment has long been a matter of concern for manufacturers and retailers in relation to product formulation, development and manufacture. All our products are in some way made or processed using chemicals, which is why we have highlighted the use of chemicals as a key sustainable indicator for the Group.
To regulate our chemicals usage, our businesses set realistic but challenging targets and objectives as appropriate. Before taking decisive action for the benefit of our customers, the environment, our businesses and society as a whole, we take account of facts, public perception and stakeholder dialogue to ensure we are addressing the right issues at the right pace.
Improving the environmental and social performance of the products we sell is a natural way of making a positive contribution to sustainable development. It is also a stimulus for innovation, developing new product ideas that enhance customer convenience and confidence. Our aim therefore is to take a holistic approach to product sustainability embracing the whole product lifecycle, from concept and design, through to customer use and final disposal of packaging and waste product.
Research and innovation
Boots UK is continuing to work with Loughborough University in the UK to find new and more sustainable ways of delivering products and services to customers. For example, since 2004, Boots UK has supported innovation by partnering with the University's Department of Design and Technology in co-ordinating and assessing a programme of sustainable development design projects for second year BA and BSc Design and Technology undergraduates. Students are briefed on the main considerations of the product journey and required to come up with practical solutions that meet key sustainable development objectives. Creative solutions and insightful design are encouraged and the results reviewed at the end of the academic year.
In June 2008 Boots UK obtained a grant from The Technology Strategy Board, an executive non-departmental public body established by the UK Government in 2007, to develop, in collaboration with both academic and industrial partners, processes that could enable algae to be grown utilising carbon dioxide emissions from the energy centre in Nottingham. An important ambition for the project is that the algae will be used as an alternative starting point to where petrochemical sources of ingredients are currently used in our products. This technology is still in its early stages but, if successful, the energy centre’s emissions could be significantly reduced.
