Carbon footprint

05 November 2022 

11:23 

Given the need for all of us, to reduce our emissions, carbon footprint, and to find ways to continue operating, whilst reducing our long-term impact to the environment, there are of course, some industries who will always be deemed to appear dirty, or more polluting then others. Here at UK Truck & Plant Group, we believe ourselves to fall into this category, working on large HGV vehicles, being the most polluting Diesel engines, where our industry of commercial vehicle repair, could easily be seen as a dirty industry, that is surrounded by fossil fuel usage, and stagnated views that it would be impossible to operate without relying on diesel, we believe, we can be at the forefront of change, leading the way, to show, our business can run and operate, whilst being clean, and lowering its environmental impact. From us demonstrating this, leading by example, we encourage others to follow us within the industry, and our clients from similarly regarded industries such as construction, haulage, courier work, healthcare and local authorities, where diesel vehicles are predominantly used, and reliance upon such needs to lessen, however technological advances are not sufficient enough as yet to enable a switch to zero emission vehicles, therefore an interim solution is needed to meet most targets of being carbon neutral by 2027. 

UK Truck & Planted ™ Scheme 

As part of our vision to become carbon negative by 2027, this scheme is the first of its kind, offered by a UK maintenance provider of Diesel and Heavy Vehicles. Whilst for our customers, there is a desire to lower their own carbon footprint, given the industry in which they work, the use of their vehicles, and the delays in new vehicle production, the actual ability to lower their carbon footprint is reduced or limited. 

This initiative, designed by UK Truck & Plant Group, combines the ability to still maintain service levels and uptime on the customers fleet, whilst, allowing them to offset some or all of the environmental impact of running their vehicles, whilst they wait for new vehicles to be produced, or for new technology to advance, in order for them to switch their reliance from Diesel Fuels to alternative power (electric, hydrogen etc) 

How it Works for clients: 

For all fleet customers, and tenders, we will, based upon your vehicle type, calculate the mileage each vehicle is driven to visit our workshops, or the mileage driven in our equipped mobile vans, to your site to carry out repairs. We then, calculate the greenhouse emissions for the journey, and add in, our overheads of providing that service, including our energy usage in our head office (electric, gas, water) and our waste disposal impact, which includes an extensive recycling scheme of all waste materials.  

Using that figure, we then offset all emissions by investing in carbon and emission offsetting schemes, both in the UK and abroad. These schemes include Wind Energy Farms, Tree Planting within the UK, Solar Power, Reforestation of Rainforests, and many more smaller projects throughout the year.  

During this offsetting process, we are also able to match the offsetting, with projects in your local area, which is great for community projects and for businesses and local authority contracts, where the client wishes to demonstrate investment in their own community as part of dealing with us at UK Truck & Plant Group. Some of our local projects for example in 2022 for Tree Planting include City of Norwich School, Longham Claypits, Fulbourn Primary in Cambridge . You can view all tree planting projects for your region, and select a particular beneficiary if you wish. 

https://www.carbonfootprint.com/plantingtrees.html 

This localised investment and offsetting, proves to be extremely popular in local authority, and construction sectors, where the impact of using a provider from further away, in order to gain better quality of works, lower costs, or faster turnaround time on repairs, can be offset, and reinvested back into the local community directly, by means of tree planting within local schools, community projects and recreation areas. 

For all workshop visits, as a provider, we also use a multiplier, to boost your offset, meaning on average* a single visit to our workshops, will offset nearly 5 times the CO2 generated by the vehicle coming to us, which is funded using the environmental charge for that service, which would usually cover the disposal costs of the filters, waste oils and fluids, by increasing our recycling facilities, any extra funds not required for recycling the waste, are diverted into carbon offsetting projected. 

On a monthly basis, we then select the projects to benefit from the offsetting, whilst offsetting all emissions of your contract with us, enabling us to deliver your maintenance on a Carbon Neutral Basis. 

A certificate of offsetting is provided, for both us, and yourselves, from CarbonFootprint (TM ) which is accredited to meet the Verified Carbon Standard, and Quality Assurance Standard for auditing. 

As a client, any of your vehicles, or equipment, serviced or maintained by us, covered by the UK Truck & Planted ™ scheme, will be provided with a free of charge, small logo, to be placed on the vehicle to suit you, to also show your customers, you are investing in environmental change, and have offset your costs of repair and maintenance. 

How it works for us: 

Having offset all emissions of providing your contract maintenance, to achieve our carbon neutral target by 2024 across all our clients, as a business, we at UK Truck & Plant Group, are committed to continue investment into solar technology within its workshops, and, to continue investment into its own fleet. Replacement of mobile workshop vans has already started to be rolled out, to include new Electric Van models, delivering zero emission coverage of your repairs across all regions. Our fleet of 44 support vehicles, is also being replaced over the next two years, with electric vehicles, used for parts deliveries, staff and vehicle movements and company cars, reducing our emissions further. Whilst we, like many others, will still have to rely on diesel, to provide our HGV haulage, MOT testing and Recovery services, by offsetting our emissions, and reducing our non-priority vehicle emissions, we are able to cut out nearly 60% of our fossil fuel usage. Further investment into solar technology at our head offices, will see a reduction in our offices and workshops fossil fuel usage by nearly 85%, and our continued investment into parts reconditioning at our Bedford Workshops and waste management means, we are able to reuse and recycle more vehicle parts than ever before, offering customers cost efficient reconditioned parts with 12 months warranty, whilst lowering our landfill and waste output on a daily basis. 

You can track our progress through our online carbon tracker, in partnership with www.carbonfootprint.com 

All this combined, makes us as a business, carbon negative by 2024. 

So, how much does it all cost?  

As a client, we can appreciate, it's always a consideration when comparing providers and quotes. But the simple answer is, nothing. It's completely free. All of the UK Truck & Planted TM scheme, is funded entirely, from your existing contract with us, and is already included in your pricing when we apply for tender work, or contract maintenance.  

Sounds easy? Looks interesting?  

Join us for a discussion, or book an appointment to discuss joining our scheme with your current or future contract, so we can show you how easy it is, and how we can all benefit from making changes to future proof our businesses, whilst protecting the environment. Allow us, to deliver on your carbon neutral targets, whilst helping us achieve our carbon negative targets.