Recycle and Reuse
REPL Group
The roadmap towards
achieving net zero
Top retail technology and sustainability expert, Graeme Hamlet gave SPN an exclusive interview. This shines new light on the awareness of sustainability within our industry and offers some new perspectives on how to optimise the roadmap towards achieving net zero. Here we publish part one. How ‘sustainability-aware’ would you say your company is and what recent measures have you taken to improve your overall contribution to the circular economy?
In your opinion what have been the most significant developments in terms of recycling and bio-degradable packaging?
“REPL has been sustainable for many years, but until recently did not badge our efforts as such. There are gaps, but we have used the 5 capitals (social, financial, natural, human and manufactured) to frame how we are sustainable, this helped us understand and increase awareness of what sustainability is.
The sheer volume of media coverage about the impact of waste and packaging on the planet and population has increased the focus on the need for change and is driving innovation at a terrific rate.
Whilst we recycle as much as possible, we have reduced paper usage and also use cloud-technology and online collaboration tools. Today, business travel is our largest Co2 emitter. The pandemic proved that we can be more successful with remote working, and continue to implement the right balance between office and remote working to capitalise on lower travel emissions, whilst maintaining engagement and team wellbeing.”
“The use of data science in retail has dramatically increased transparency. The most significant of these is being in supply chain operations. Data science is key to understanding where and how raw materials are extracted, how products are made, used and what end-of-life looks like as well as exposing the carbon emissions and physical waste associated with any supply chain. Businesses can use this data to identify focus areas for improvement, such as reduced packaging, alternate materials and where a circular economy might be possible”.
In relation to sustainability, what would you say have been your most important milestones? Every time we improve our GPTW ranking and see our end of year results – these are a fantastic testament to the team’s management of financial, human and social capital. From an environmental capital (and personal perspective) I think the biggest milestones have been gaining board support for sustainable change at REPL, passing the CISL sustainability management course and “seeing the light”. As well as witnessing the engagement and interest in the subject grow enormously, and most recently the incredible support from the team to invest in our ideas for products and services in this space.
Follow up on Graeme Hamlet’s revealing observations in Part 2, to be published in January 2022
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