Representatives from the head office of Center Parcs in Nottinghamshire will this week join firms from across the UK at the 2005 ‘Retail Therapy’ Awards in London.
Taking place on 21 April at Harrods, the event will be hosted by the British Retail Consortium and Envirowise – the Government funded initiative to improve the competitiveness of UK by advising on practical ways to increase profits, minimise waste and reduce environmental impact.
The presentation dinner is being held to celebrate the significant savings made by firms who have taken part in the Supply Chain Partnership Forum called ‘Retail Therapy’ – which sees companies working closely with their suppliers to implement environmental improvements and reduce costs.
Nationally, this unique project estimates cost savings last year alone of more than £1.4 million.
Center Parcs has been involved in the project since its pilot phase in 2002. During 2004 they worked with more than 10 suppliers to identify savings of £160,000. This included Inman Electrical who managed to eliminate the use of bubble wrap, implemented a policy of segregation and recycling, used grey water for vehicle washing, installed percussion taps and lighting triggered by occupancy sensors.
Simon Drury of Center Parcs says: “This year’s Retail Therapy programme has been a great success. With a supply chain as diverse as ours, good working relationships are crucial. The programme has helped our suppliers gain a much better understanding of our business, and our position on environmental matters.
“Every element of the project played an important part in helping us, and more importantly our suppliers, achieve impressive cost savings. We all look forward to taking part in Retail Therapy again next year.”
Envirowise programme director Martin Gibson said: “Our experience has shown that the retail sector can reduce waste costs by up to 1 per cent of turnover simply by putting in place simple, no cost or low cost measures.
“This programme encourages and equips companies to work together to find solutions to problems such as re-usable transport packaging, better delivery logistics or smarter product packaging design.
“We ask those involved to take a different look at the way they operate. Both customers and suppliers can achieve cost savings and other benefits from sharing experiences and taking a closer look at how they interact with others.”
Retail Therapy helps companies achieve this by working through a four-stage programme: introductory workshop, FastTrack waste review, targeted training and impact assessment – which normally takes around six months. It also offers free support and practical assistance under the Envirowise programme.
More information can be found at www.envirowise.gov.uk by choosing ‘Retail’ under ‘Select Your Industry’ or call The Envirowise Advice Line on 0800 585 794.
Note to Editors
1. Envirowise is funded by DTI and DEFRA and works in partnership with the British Retail Consortium to run the Supply Chain Partnership Forum – ‘Retail Therapy’. To date, the project has been run over three consecutive years and identified more than £5.3 million of potential savings - £3.8 million of which have already been achieved.
2. Since, 1994, Envirowise has helped UK industry save in excess of £1 billion by offering advice to help companies identify where waste production can be minimised and cost-savings made. Envirowise services are free of charge and are completely confidential. Companies can contact Envirowise at www.envirowise.gov.uk or by calling The Envirowise Advice Line on 0800 585 794.