Glasgow wholesaler keeps its eyes on the future
GLASGOW-BASED wholesaler JW Filshill is set to prioritise sustainability moving forward as the firm meets its pledge to cut carbon emissions five years early.
Filshill has managed to cut its carbon emissions by 50% this year, a goal the firm initially set to achieve by 2030, boosted in part by the move to its new depot in the Renfrew area.
Along with the move, the wholesaler has made significant investments into electric HGV vehicles, solar panels, full LED lighting and transitioned over to HVO fuel – a renewable fuel source made from vegetable oil – for all of its diesel-powered operations at Westway Business Park.
Keith Geddes, chief financial and operating officer at Filshill, said: “We’ve made huge strides with sustainability within the business and are leading the way within the wholesale sector, not just in terms of Scotland, but across the UK.
“We’ve reduced our carbon footprint by 8% in the last year alone and invested in two fully electric HGVs.
“We have looked at several innovations to further reduce our CO2 emissions including switching to hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) for all our HGVs at Westway – this has been a game-changer for us as this is a much cleaner fuel than diesel.”
Now, the firm is set to make strides with technology to assist its sustainability credentials. Filshill has committed to investing in a new software platform that will greatly assist the firm in tracking its Scope 3 emissions – indirect emissions that occur from a businesses’ operations, but are not directly caused by the business such as the use and disposal of products from suppliers outside the business or emissions from employees’ commutes.
This renewed ambition from the Glasgow wholesaler comes after two recent industry award wins for its work around sustainability and commitment towards becoming a net-zero business.
The first of these was the Sustainable Wholesaler of the Year at the Scottish Wholesale Achievers in February and, more recently, the firm scooped up the Environment and Sustainability Award at the Unitas Connect Awards.
Geddes said: “We are now pushing ahead with benchmarking our Scope 3 emissions. By adopting a wholesale food and drink-focused software platform, we can better track our Scope 3 emissions.
“From fairly simply measures such as reducing paper invoices and switching to e-invoicing and using both sides of the page when we do need to print something out – small actions make a huge difference over time. Backhauling is another area we are looking at.”
