Case study: Slim Jim Recycling Stations deliver DPD reduced costs and less waste
The introduction of Slim Jim ® Recycling Stations (SJRS) across DPD’s depot locations is set to divert 500 tonnes of waste every year to the circular economy.
With 27% cost savings from not sending waste to general disposal, one of Europe’s leading parcel groups is set to recoup their investment within a year and has taken their recycling efficiency rate to over 90% at sites where the stations have been installed. With increased recycling rates and reduced costs, SJRS are delivering financial and environmental impact for DPD and helping them realise their aspiration of being the “greenest delivery service on the planet”.
Here's how they’re doing it…
Identifying areas for improvement
DPD delivers over 260 million parcels each year with a team of 15,000 people operating over 10,000 vehicles from 84 depot locations. Passionate advocates of corporate responsibility, DPD has implemented numerous sustainable working practices in recent years, including deploying over 2,000 low emissions vehicles across Europe. The team, however, wanted to do more to reach their aspiration of becoming “the greenest delivery service on the planet”.
Working in collaboration with Rubbermaid Commercial Products (RCP) and Lyreco – the international distributor of workplace products and services – using RCP’s free online environmental audit tool, DPD were able to quickly highlight the environmental and business savings that could be made.
Together, the team identified the most troublesome sites in terms of recycling and waste, where lack of consistent compliance with DPD’s best practice recycling procedure was causing an issue. Visits to these sites confirmed that switching to more effective recycling stations would have a big impact.
Tangible savings within months
With a pilot scheme rapidly green-lit, and six tonnes of waste diverted from general waste disposal within the first months of SJRS being introduced to the pilot sites, proof of concept was clear.
The effective and space-efficient recycling systems were rolled out across 14 further facilities as part of a staged installation process which will see the remaining sites upgraded in the coming months.
Within the first year, DPD had already boosted their recycling rate by 48% at six key sites. Every month, at each site it’s installed, the recycling system diverts an average of 0.5 tonnes away from general waste disposal. On completion of the roll-out across all DPD sites, over 500 tonnes of waste every year will be diverted to the circular economy rather than going to general waste disposal.
Over 90% recycling efficiency achieved, investment recouped within a year
Olly Craughan Head of Sustainability for DPD, is delighted with both the financial and environmental savings that have been made:
“Introducing Slim Jim® Recycling Stations has made a tangible difference with residual waste reduced by a third on the sites where the bins have been installed and individual sites achieving recycling rates over 90% against our achieved business target of 70%.
“What’s more, it’s a move that makes clear financial sense. In addition to environmental savings, we’re seeing 27% cost savings of not sending waste to general waste disposal, which means we will recoup our investment within a year.”
Get started: find out how much your business could save with our free environmental audit tool
DPD’s potential to make financial and environmental savings by improving their recycling processes was identified thanks to RCP’s free audit tool. If you’re unsure where to start making changes to your business’ recycling practices, get started with our audit tool to discover your estimated % and cost savings of sending less waste to general waste disposal.
With just six straightforward questions, the tool takes only 90 seconds to complete. You can then request a consultation with an RCP Recycling Expert to go into more detail and get a closer savings estimate and estimated time to recoup your investment.
Get started with our free environmental audit tool today.
