how we think
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Environment
“We aim to actively seek ways to minimise
our impact on the environment in the way
we do business.”
Landfill waste and plastic pollution are major environmental concerns. We are
minimising and recycling waste from our operations, removing unnecessary packaging
and limiting carrier bag usage.
We are committed to lowering our carbon footprint by reducing energy
consumption in our stores, offices and distribution centres and cutting our transport
emissions through improved efficiency.
Our environmental impact extends to the products we sell. We encourage
responsible consumerism by offering wider ranges of energy-efficient and
environmentally-responsible products — see the section on customers for more
information.
Home Retail CR Report 2008
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Waste
Overview
Objective ProgressComments
We have established robust mechanisms to manage
the waste generated from our offices, distribution
centres and stores across the UK and Ireland. We seek
to minimise the amount of waste we send to landfill by
reducing waste in the first place and increase recycling.
Regular waste management meetings with clear
reporting through to the Group’s corporate responsibility
steering group ensure that our waste strategy is fully
integrated across our business activities. A waste
minimisation management group meets quarterly
to review the Group’s performance, discuss local
and national waste issues and the impact of future
Government policy initiatives.
Attain recycling rate of 50%
Completed across the Group
Achieved 53%, up from 40%
last year
Reduce plastic bag consumption Ongoing
by 25% by the end of 2008 calendar year Achieved reductions of 18% by
the end of 2007, ahead of the
sector average of 8%
In managing our waste we focus on:
Product packaging
Transit packaging
Carrier bags
Electrical waste
Catalogues and flyers
Recycling rates have increased again this year. Most
Argos stores return used cardboard, plastic and damaged
catalogues and flyers to distribution centres for recycling.
We work to ‘right size’ our product and transit packaging
to remove unnecessary cardboard and plastic. We also
have a policy of asking customers whether or not they
need a carrier bag when they shop with us. We will
continue to focus on these areas in the coming year.
During 2007/08 we significantly improved the
methods and accuracy of our waste monitoring and
reporting across the Group. We record and report
waste data monthly to stimulate a culture of continual
improvement that enables us to correct issues as they
arise and target areas of greatest environmental impact.
Performance
During 2007/08 we improved the methods and accuracy
of our waste monitoring and reporting across the
Group: stores now return the majority of their waste to
distribution centres; more accurate and regular reporting
is in place; store colleagues have received training on
how to handle and reduce waste.
The improvement in our recycling rate has been due
in large part to the introduction of many of the best
waste management practices from Argos at Homebase.
Argos already backhauls waste from stores to recycling
centres. Homebase backhauls cardboard from stores and
in 2007/08 successfully trialled the return of plastic and
wood as well. In some instances skip waste was reduced
by up to 50%, enabling a reduction in the number of
skips per store. From 1 March 2008 the return and
onward recycling of plastic was adopted by all Homebase
stores; the wood trial also continues. As a result we
expect Group recycling rates to increase further in
2008/09.
10 Home Retail CR Report 2008
Attain ISO 14001 status for five Completed
Barton and Faverdale Distribution
Argos distribution centres Centres achieved ISO 14001 status, making a total of five for
the Group
As part of this change, all Homebase stores have
nominated a waste champion to support colleagues
in meeting the new waste procedures; northern and
southern regional champions have also been appointed
to further support store compliance.
Our use of plastic carrier bags has fallen significantly
as we implemented a policy of asking customers if they
‘need’ a bag rather than offering one automatically.
We began this programme in 2005 and measure our
performance on a calendar year basis using this as our
baseline year. Since then we have used 18% fewer carrier
bags. Improved point of sale information offering ‘waste’
cardboard boxes and plant trays are being trialled in
order to reduce bag consumption further.
The Argos distribution centres at Barton and
Faverdale achieved accreditation to the recognised
environmental standard ISO14001 this year, fulfilling our
Group target of five accredited distribution centres.
We have continued to look for ways to reduce the
amount of packaging associated with our products and
have made significant improvements to the way that
this information is captured and reported within the
business. Although we have seen a 12% increase in the
total amount of packaging handled over this time, we
have also implemented a number of packaging reduction
initiatives across the Group. As a result, the packaging
per £1,000 of sales has increased by a smaller proportion
(9%) showing that whilst we are selling more products,
the amount of packaging associated with them is less.
We will continue to drive these improvements through
the business during 2008/09.
how we think
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our performance in 07/08
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Waste
Waste: Total generated (thousand tonnes)
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The total waste generated by the Group has reduced
by 11% to 75 thousand tonnes
The amount of waste sent to landfill has reduced
by 29% from 50 thousand to 36 thousand tonnes
Recycling has increased by 17% from 34 thousand
to 40 thousand tonnes.
Total Group waste generated per £1,000 of sales (Kilograms)
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The waste recycled has increased from 40% to 53%
The waste going to landfill reduced from 60% to 47%.
Plastic carrier bag use (million bags)
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The amount of waste we make for every £1,000
of sales has reduced by 13% to 12.6 kg per £1,000.
11 Home Retail CR Report 2008
Plastic carrier bag use has reduced by 18% since
2005 to 114 million bags.
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Waste
Packaging: total amount associated with product sold
(thousand tonnes)
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£1,000 of sales (Kilograms)
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The packaging associated with the products we sell has
increased by 12% from 95 thousand to 106 thousand tonnes.
The 2005 and 2006 figures have been restated to correct
the inclusion of additional transit packaging material. This
mainly relates to wooden pallets and steel ties used to transport
products from suppliers to our distribution centres. As our
biggest impact in this area comes from packaging passed onto our
customers (as most packaging used internally is recycled or reused)
we have removed this material from our reported figures to allow
better understanding and comparison of our data.
12 Home Retail CR Report 2008
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The packaging per £1,000 of sales has also increased,
but by the lesser figure of 9%.
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Waste
Future objectives and targets
Objectives for 2008/09
Reduce landfill tonnage by 35%
Achieve recycling rates of over 60%
Achieve 25% reduction in consumption of carrier bags by end of 2008 (based on 2005 data)
Introduce packaging reductions on a fifth of the product range, targeting a 3000 tonnes packaging saving over the next three years.
In 2008/09 we intend to build on our progress by further
reducing our own waste to landfill and beginning to look
more closely at our customers’ waste. Our ambition is to
send zero waste to landfill. We have found this to be a
powerful inspiration for our activities to reduce waste.
Initiatives for the coming year include:
Launching a packaging reduction project to reduce both product and outer packaging
Improving our forecasting of print quantities
Continuing to reduce carrier bag consumption
Gaining accreditation to ISO14001 for all
Group distribution centres
Continuing to support store colleagues to recycle
the majority of store waste
Using the recycling logo prominently in Argos
catalogues to build customer awareness
Achieving compliance with the new
Batteries Directive.
13 Home Retail CR Report 2008
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Waste
Examples of our work
Rightsizing packaging
Rightsizing aims to reduce packaging waste by
ensuring that the correct materials are used without
compromising product integrity. Rightsizing has the
potential to deliver direct cost benefits to Argos,
Homebase and our suppliers.
Re-using packaging
Argos stores regularly receive shipments of large paper
posters for display in-store that are wrapped in heavy
cardboard tubes. Previously, these tubes were sent for
recycling. Over the year we have worked with Bezier, our
poster supplier, to introduce a system of collection and
return of these tubes for re-use. This approach reduces
store waste and achieves financial savings for the Group
and Bezier into the bargain.
Carrier bags
Argos and Homebase are asking customers whether they
‘need’ a bag rather than asking whether they would ‘like’
or ‘want’ one. Homebase is conducting store trials to find
alternative ways to reduce carrier bag consumption. Ideas
include reusable bags, plant trays and boxes.
Waste champions forum
Representatives from the Group’s stores, offices and
distribution centres meet once a quarter to discuss our
waste and recycling figures and share experiences and
practices. The forum began in 2007 and has since played
an important role in improving our performance.
Colleague training
All Homebase store colleagues have taken part in a
training programme entitled ‘Putting waste in its place!’.
The programme covers all types of store waste and how
to recycle it.
Homebase waste audits
We commissioned the University of Southampton to
conduct audits of the full range of waste management
activities and practices within a sample of Homebase
stores. The final report provided valuable advice and
guidance on the implementation of best practice.
Batteries trial
Legislation to eliminate waste batteries from landfill is
expected to be implemented in the UK and Ireland in
2008. For the last 18 months Argos and Homebase have
participated in Government-funded trials through the
Waste Reduction Action Programme (WRAP). The trials
have provided valuable information to the industry on
the extent to which customers will use retail outlets as
recycling points for disposal of waste batteries.
14 Home Retail CR Report 2008
Printer cartridge recycling
Argos has teamed up with Jet Tec, Europe’s leading
manufacturer of inkjet printer cartridges, to encourage
customers to return their used printer cartridges for
recycling using a freepost envelope. For every cartridge
that can be recycled, Jet Tec makes a donation to the
charity partner.
Mobile phone recycling
Argos has signed up with envirofone.com, the UK’s first
mobile phone recycling website, to pay mobile phone
users to trade in their working mobile phones. Envirofone
estimates that over 15 million mobiles will be upgraded
in the UK during the next 12 months, with many of the
old ones being discarded. Customers who purchase new
mobile phones are now offered a freepost envelope to
recycle their old handset. They can convert the value of
the phone into cash and/or raise money for the Argos
charity partnership.
Brita water filters
Customers can now recycle used Brita water filters in
our UK stores. Working with Brita, we have introduced a
system to collect used filters from our stores and return
them to Brita for re-use/recycling.
100% recyclable
The Argos catalogue and all our publications are 100%
recyclable. We also offer an in-store take-back service for
customers who are unable to recycle their catalogues at
home
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
regulations
Home Retail Group is classed as both a distributor
and producer of WEEE in the UK. As a distributor, we
achieve compliance through our membership of the UK’s
distributor take-back scheme managed by Valpak; as a
producer, through our membership of Transform, which is
operated by Biffa Waste Services. In Ireland we are classed
as a producer of WEEE and achieve compliance through
our membership of WEEE Ireland. Furthermore, we offer
customers a take-back service for their old appliances
when delivering new goods.
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Energy
Overview
We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint by
cutting energy consumption in our stores, offices and
distribution centres. This not only benefits the environment but also helps us to avoid higher costs from rising
energy prices. In addition, we are committed to purchasing a significant proportion of our energy from renewable
sources.
Regular energy management meetings with clear
reporting through to the Group’s corporate responsibility
steering group ensure that our energy strategy is fully
integrated across our business activities.
An energy management group meets quarterly to
review the Group’s performance, discuss energy sources
and prices and the impact of future Government policy
initiatives.
Future initiatives that we are monitoring closely include:
The Carbon Reduction Commitment: commencing in
2010, this is a mandatory emissions trading scheme
for large, non-energy intensive commercial and
public sector organisations that will include Home
Retail Group. We are reviewing our data capture
systems accordingly
The current Ofgem consultation ‘Developing
Guidelines for Green Supply’ proposes a change to
a company’s CO2 emissions reporting, aimed at
increasing transparency and reducing
double-counting of emissions savings.
15 Home Retail CR Report 2008
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Energy
Performance
Objective ProgressComments
In 2007/08 the Group generated 116 thousand tonnes of
carbon dioxide (CO2) from energy used in its buildings.
This is a reduction of almost 30% on 2006/07, reflecting greater use of renewable energy, improved energy
efficiency in our stores and increased energy awareness
amongst colleagues. Our building energy consumption
remained broadly constant at 531 million kWh, despite
the opening of 48 new stores over the course of the year.
Achieve energy accreditation Ongoing
from the Carbon Trust for Argos and Homebase
Argos has been re-accredited;
Homebase has applied for
accreditation
Reduce energy consumption by Completed consumption per sq ft
Achieved 7% reduction in energy
2% per kWh/sq ft
Purchase at least Completed
30% green power
The Group purchased 49% of its electricity from renewable sources
Building energy use – total consumption (million kWh)
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Despite opening 48 additional new stores this year,
our energy use has remained broadly unchanged at
531 million kWh.
16 Home Retail CR Report 2008
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Energy use per £1,000 of sales has reduced by
2% from 91 million to 89 million kWh, illustrating improvements in the way we use energy,
particularly within our stores.
how we think
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Energy
Building energy use by fuel type (%)
Building energy use – emissions CO2 (thousand tonnes)
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Electricity accounts for over 60% of the energy
we used. The remainder is from gas.
Electricity from renewable sources now accounts
for 49% of the electricity we use. If we include
electricity from Combined Heat and Power plant
(low carbon), this proportion increases to 61%.
Building energy use – CO2 by £1,000 sales (kilograms)
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CO2 emissions per £1,000 of sales have
reduced by 31%.
17 Home Retail CR Report 2008
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The CO2 emissions from building energy use reduced
by 29%, largely as a consequence of purchasing
more electricity from renewable sources, better
energy efficiency at our stores and increased
colleague awareness.
Our CO2 emissions have been calculated based on the
guidance published by DEFRA in 2007. Revisions have
been made to reflect more accurately the way electricity
is generated and the ‘emission factors’ that determine
the CO2 associated with each kWh of different energy
types. We have applied these changes retrospectively to
allow data to be compared on a like-for-like basis. The
effect is an increase in CO2 figures compared to those
previously reported. Underlying energy use figures are
unchanged.
Consultations are underway over how emissions
should be reported from renewable energy purchased
via the national grid. As we buy energy in this way, we
are monitoring developments closely and will reflect any
changes in our future reporting.
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Energy
Future objectives and targets
Objectives for 2008/09
Achieve 2% reduction in energy consumption
(kWh/sq ft) year on year
Purchase at least 35% renewable energy
Establish targets and set programmes to reduce
energy consumption and emissions at all sites.
This will be dependant on the completion of the
installation of meters at all sites
Review existing water consumption measures
and potential for use of grey water in all
garden centres.
For 2008/09 we have consolidated our energy suppliers
to ensure we maintain competitive contracts and secure
our renewable energy commitments.
In addition to these objectives, we aim to review
our accreditation with the Carbon Trust and investigate
initiatives to further improve overall energy data capture
across our stores.
Examples of our work
Carbon Trust accreditation
Argos was re-accredited to the Carbon Trust’s Energy
Efficiency Accreditation Scheme in 2007. This is an
independent award, lasting three years, that recognises
achievements in reducing energy use and is made by the
Energy Institute. Homebase has submitted a request for
accreditation and is awaiting the result.
Envirowise workshops
In conjunction with the Government’s Envirowise
programme, for the second consecutive year we
organised workshops for our UK suppliers to promote
reduction of their environmental impacts.
Colleague training
Everyone in our Homebase stores receives specific energy
campaigns aimed at raising awareness of energy use instore and how to reduce consumption.
Colleague engagement
As part of our 2007 Argos conference, store managers
spent a morning reviewing ways in which the business
could reduce carbon emissions. All ideas were presented
to the Argos board in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style format in
front of the whole conference. Other initiatives have
included screenings of climate change films such as Al
Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ for senior managers.
18 Home Retail CR Report 2008
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Transport
Overview
Performance
Our corporate responsibility strategy for transport affects
both our commercial fleet and our company car fleet.
Commercial fleet
Commercial fleet – total fuel consumption
(million litres)
Commercial fleet
Our commercial transport comprises the Argos and
Homebase store delivery fleet and the Argos and
Homebase home delivery fleet (Argos Direct).
Regular transport management meetings with clear
reporting through to the Group’s corporate responsibility
steering group ensure that our transport strategy is fully
integrated across our business activities. The Group’s
transport forum meets every two months to discuss
performance and share best practice.
The transport teams have two primary objectives:
to improve the economic efficiency and reduce the
environmental impact of the commercial fleet. The
Argos tyre procurement policy and driver training help to
increase fuel efficiency. Our five-year fleet replacement
policy ensures that we meet the latest emission
standards legislation, such as Euro 4 and Euro 5. Currently,
65% of tractor units in our mainline fleet are less than
three years old.
Company car fleet
We operate a fleet of 1,368 company cars. We aim
to reduce the fleet’s carbon emissions by listing new cars
that have superior fuel consumption and encouraging our
company car drivers to choose ‘greener’ options when
renewing their vehicles.
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The total fuel consumed by our commercial
fleet has reduced by 4% from 37 million to
36 million litres
The kilometres driven using this fuel remained broadly constant at 139 million kilometres,
indicating greater efficiency across the fleet.
Commercial fleet – Total fuel consumption per
£1,000 sales (litres)
19 Home Retail CR Report 2008
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Fuel consumption per £1,000 of sales has
reduced from 6.3 to 6.0 litres per £1,000
sales – a 6% improvement.
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Transport
Commercial fleet – CO2 emissions (thousand tonnes)
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CO2 emissions per £1,000 of sales improved
by 6% from 16.7 to 15.7 kg per £1,000, in line
with reduced fuel consumption.
Company cars
We have increased the proportion of the fleet running on
diesel from 85% to 90% over the past year and reduced
average CO2 emissions from 165 gm/km to 155 gm/km.
Future objectives and targets
Examples of our work
Commercial fleet
Transport forum
We are further improving fuel efficiency by adopting our
tyre procurement policy across the Group and offering
training to more drivers. We will also continue to renew
and update our fleet with newer models.
Representatives of each of the Group’s transport
fleets meet once every two months to discuss their
performance and to share best practice. The forum has
played an important role in improving performance.
Company cars
Tyre procurement:
We plan to introduce a system to better monitor
and manage business mileage across the Group. We
will shortly introduce a new company car policy to
encourage drivers to choose ‘greener’ models. Finally, we
will offer advice on ‘greener’ driving techniques through
our Group intranet site.
Argos Direct decided to use retreads as part of a drive
to reduce its environmental impact on the roads; today
52% of replacement tyres for its commercial fleet are
retreads. Argos Direct entered into a tyre management
programme with Bandvulc Tyre Control several years ago.
Bandvulc performs regular tyre inspections on all vehicles
and will often move tyres between axles or wheels to
maximise their life cycle. When a tyre reaches the end
of its working life, it is removed from the vehicle and
returned to Bandvulc. Using Argos Direct’s own casing
system, tyres are retreaded using the ‘precure’ method
before being returned to stock ready to be re-fitted.
20 Home Retail CR Report 2008
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Carbon footprint
Overview
Performance
Climate change is a mainstream issue for businesses.
Although Home Retail Group is not a manufacturing
company, nor do we have any industrial processes
that emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, our
activities do have an impact on climate change.
We generate emissions from our use of energy in our
buildings and from the fuel used by our commercial fleet
and company cars. This is what we term our ‘operational
carbon’. Our response is to steadily drive down our use of
energy and fuel, reducing CO2 emissions and costs as we
do so.
A large proportion of the products we sell use energy
so we have a responsibility to consider the energy they
consume. We make sure that we offer and promote a
wide range and choice of products, including energyefficient options. See the section on customers for more
information.
We also acknowledge that energy is used to
manufacture these products in the first place. The
indirect emission from the use and manufacture of these
products is what we term ‘product carbon’.
CO2 total emissions (thousand tonnes)
Carbon offset
We do not believe that offsetting our emissions as
a single strategy is satisfactory or sufficient. Instead,
we give greater priority to strategies to reduce CO2 at
source. If carbon offset is to have a place in our activities,
it will be considered only for high-quality projects that
promote renewable and non-fossil fuel energy sources.
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Total CO2 emissions have reduced by 19% from 270
thousand to 217 thousand tonnes. This reflects greater
efficiency in energy and fuel use, greater use of
energy from renewable sources and increased
awareness amongst colleagues.
Emissions by source – buildings/transport (thousand
tonnes)
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CO2 emissions per £1,000 of sales have
reduced by 21%.
21 Home Retail CR Report 2008
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CO2 emissions from energy used in our buildings
account for 53% of the total, with emissions from
transport accounting for the rest.(In 2006/07
emissions from building energy use accounted for
61% of the total.) Whilst our overall CO2 emissions
have reduced significantly, much of this
improvement is due to reductions in emissions
associated with building energy use, particularly
savings from our purchase of renewable electricity.
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