Supply Chain Sustainability

Overview with practical pointers and easy to implement advice

Adopting sustainable practices throughout the supply chain, companies can minimise their carbon footprint, conserve natural resources, and promote social responsibility. Here are several ways that companies can reduce their environmental impact through sustainable supply chain management: **Supplier Selection:** Companies can begin by selecting suppliers who share their commitment to sustainability. Partnering with suppliers that are more sustainable can reduce your organisations Scope emissions. This involves assessing suppliers based on their environmental practices, such as resource conservation, waste management, and emissions reduction. ISO 20400:2017 provides guidance on integration of sustainability within procurement. It is intended for stakeholders involved in, or impacted by, procurement decisions and processes.

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Green Logistics:

Reducing emissions of transportation and logistics activities can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of your supply chain. Companies like McCulla offer zero carbon transport and logistics Additionally, they can consider alternative transportation modes, such as rail or waterways, which have lower carbon footprints compared to road transport. Implementing Greenly or another Carbon Mangement software could help you minimise energy usage within your own fleet.

Energy Efficiency:

Implementing energy-efficient practices within manufacturing facilities and distribution centres can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With energy it is important to understand your energy usage so that you can prioritise on improving the most inefficient elements first. When your operations are as efficient as possible, renewable energy generation might be an option or repurposing a waste product into an energy source. Another option would be to adopt energy-efficient equipment, to optimise your production process, and changing to renewable energy tariff for your energy needs. The Electric Storage Company could help with maximising the efficiency of this.

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Waste Management:

Developing effective waste management strategies is crucial for sustainable supply chain management. As well as waste reduction, recycling - businesses can collaborate to implement repurposing, or circularity. International Synergies Limited can help foster eco-innovation and share mutually profitable transactions. No alt text provided for this image

Product Packaging:

Companies can adopt eco-friendly packaging materials and designs to reduce waste and minimise the use of non-recyclable materials. Optimising packaging sizes and weights can also lower transportation costs and decrease carbon emissions during shipping.

Lifecycle Assessment:

Conducting a lifecycle assessment of products can help identify areas where sustainability improvements can be made. This assessment examines the environmental impact of a product from raw material extraction to disposal. By understanding the lifecycle impacts, companies can make informed decisions to reduce environmental footprints throughout the supply chain.

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There are lots of additional ways to create more sustainable supply chains, including collaboration and transparency within your existing supply chain partners which increases opportunity to share best practices. Sharing your organisations compliance and certifications and outlining any standards relating to these that affect your supply chain will ensure that you're expectations are clear.

Investing time and resources into a certification like B Corp UK (with 📈 Graham Gillen) can help your customers to easily recognise that you are a certified, transparent Business for Good.

As with many elements of business applying a practice of continuous improvement will help your organisation to learn and grow by applying what has been learnt across the organisation.

Reach out to Farming Carbon to understand your sustainability position email info@farmingcarbon.co.uk