Sainsbury’s has extended its dual-fuel fleet to 51 vehicles saving up to 25 per cent in carbon emissions.
It has adopted the slogan “Running on rubbish” for the vehicles, which use a combination of diesel and bio-methane produced from rotting organic material in landfill.
The fleet, based at the retailer’s Emerald Park Distribution Centre in Bristol, is serving stores and depots in Wales and the South West. A dedicated on site refuelling station has also been put in place for fuelling efficiency and to allow a larger number of dual-fuel vehicles to enter the fleet over time.
Nick Davies, Sainsbury’s head of transport operations, said: “Our trial of dual-fuel was very successful and gave us the confidence to extend the fleet to become one of the largest in the country. Our early adoption of this technology is helping to significantly reduce CO2 emissions and future proof our fuel supply, which are both fundamental to the long-term sustainability of our business.
“We have already achieved a number of efficiencies across our transport operations, including cutting almost 8 million kilometres in three years, and our dual-fuel fleet will also play a key role in delivering our no waste to landfill policy. As well as delivering to our stores the fleet also back hauls any food waste and recyclable materials to facilities to be sorted and put to positive use.”
Sainsbury’s started using its first bio-methane vehicle in 2008 and a year later ran a trial of five dual-fuel vehicles .
The retailer aims to reduce its depot to store transport CO2 emissions by 35 per cent by 2020 and achieve an absolute reduction of 50 per cent by 2030, against a 2005 baseline, despite the growth of its business.
Each Dual-Fuel vehicle will save around 41 tonnes of CO2 from being dispersed into the atmosphere each year.
