Boots - Reducing the carbon footprint

Boots The Chemists, part of the Alliance Boots group, is the UK’s leading health and beauty retailer. They develop and manufacture many of their Boots Brand products at their own facilities in Nottingham, France and Germany. Boots has been introducing sustainability criteria into its product development and supply processes over many years.

Boots strategy on product sustainability is based on the principle of “cradle to cradle” thinking across the whole product lifecycle incorporating all aspects of sustainable development. In order to illustrate this in a simple and engaging way Boots have developed the “Product Journey”. At each stage of the journey all impacts are considered in product development.

Carbon Footprinting has been developed to identify the climate change potential of products and services. This employs similar “cradle to cradle” techniques. In 2006, Boots, working with the Carbon Trust, mapped the carbon footprint of typical shampoos.  The key contributors to the carbon footprint across the lifecycle were identified and the impact of a range of process and supply chain improvements examined. These include:

Recycled packaging – Since 2005, Boots’ packaging and manufacturing teams have been working with WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) to utilise post-consumer recycled PET in toiletry bottles. Trials have been successful and a range of products introduced in recycled containers.

Distribution – The distribution of goods forms an important part of the overall journey of a product. Over many years Boots has been working to reduce the environmental impact of its distribution network. Boots distributes goods daily from warehouses to shops, annually travelling around 44 million kilometres and producing around 33 thousand tonnes of CO2.

Boots worked hard during the late 90’s and early 00’s to maximise vehicle fill on its long distance distribution vehicles and, by developing partnerships with suppliers, to allow Boots to collect their products. To increase distribution efficiency further, the use of larger vehicles was trialled successfully in 2005 using double deck vehicles between Nottingham and Scotland. Boots now operates 41 double deck vehicles between Nottingham and its 17 regional warehouses.

It was also identified that the total carbon footprint for shampoos is dominated by the consumer usage stage. Point of sale information in stores will include practical advice to consumers on how they can reduce their energy bills.