We often get asked what we’re doing to help the environment, and for us this is an easy question to answer. At phs Group we are constantly adapting the way we work to ensure we’re as sustainable as possible. We encourage our employees to identify any areas we could improve on, and we are proud to provide our customers with sustainable solutions.
What makes phs different?
Our customers rely on us to provide high quality hygiene services and products. There is an increasing need for the products and services we provide, and we believe it’s our responsibility to provide sustainable and innovative solutions.
Tackling plastic pollution
There’s no denying that plastic pollution is one of today’s biggest environmental problems. That’s why we’ve taken measures to tackle it through our processes and products.
A shocking 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear makes its way into the ocean each year. Known as ghost nets, these ensnare hundreds of thousands of marine animals and take up to 600 years to degrade.
To help end this problem, phs has transformed the way it makes its floor mats. Our floormats are now made from Econyl, a strong nylon yarn created from discarded fishing nets which are rescued from the sea.
For us, it’s all about being innovative while making a positive difference to the world; in this case, we’re enabling people to clean up ocean plastic waste simply by wiping their feet.
Turning Waste into Energy
Last year we proudly launched a new waste strategy, known as the LifeCycle Strategy, that helps the environment by transforming the hygiene waste we collect into sustainable energy.
As the largest collector of sanitary and nappy waste in the UK, phs has partnered with energy-from-waste (EfW) specialists located throughout the UK. This partnership allows us to divert the hygiene waste we collect from our customers away from landfill and into energy recovery facilities. The energy is then used to power homes, offices buildings, hospitals and schools.
phs Group has an aspiration to divert up to 95% of the waste we collect away from landfill and into the National Grid; helping the UK to achieve its renewable energy targets.
Reducing our organisational carbon footprint
Each day, phs employees undertake 20,000 service visits at our customers’ sites. Naturally, getting to and from these customers is our primary operational challenge.
The fuel used in our vehicles is currently responsible for 75% of our organisational carbon footprint We are working hard to control this and our efforts are focused on 3 areas: choosing efficient vehicles that are the best-fit for our needs, taking practical steps to reduce the fuel we use and looking to the future to understand how we can transition to low carbon transport solutions.
So far, our ongoing investment in fleet replacement and driver behaviour training has enabled us to improve our average driver mpg by over 15%. We’ve also invested over £16 million into new vehicles, enabling us to both downsize vehicles and consolidate routes to reduce the number of waste vehicles on the road.
Providing our customers with choices
We can’t be perfect all the time, but small changes really can help the environment. Our wide-range of products allows us to offer customers different choices. From environmentally friendly baby wipes to natural cleaning products, we allow our customers to make informed choices.
Our range of suitable products is constantly growing, and we are currently working on an exciting partnership that we can’t wait to share.
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