We will run efficient operations that minimise waste and reduce our contribution to climate change. We will promote sustainable development.
The Group has a responsibility to manage the impact of its operations on the environment so that any harm is minimised and positive contribution is maximised. Opportunities to reduce our carbon impact, our use of natural resources and to reduce waste and recycle more materials exist in all our operations and at every stage of our products’ life cycle, from the sourcing of materials through their transportation and to their ultimate use and disposal.
The increasing cost of energy, water consumption and the disposal of waste add a clear commercial imperative for measuring and understanding our performance in these areas.
A priority for the second year of our CR programme will be to identify the best improvement opportunities for each of our businesses. In Wolseley UK, this will be part of our coordinated response to the requirements of the CRC This process will contribute to the development of a set of Group-wide sustainability objectives to improve our environmental performance and operational efficiency.
In certain markets, there is increasing demand for sustainable products. To remain competitive, it is important that we understand our customers’ needs and are responsive to change as the industry, markets and legislation develop. Wolseley UK’s Sustainable Building Center, located next to its headquarters in Leamington Spa, was opened in 2008. In its fi rst year, it has attracted interest from existing and new customers such as architects, homebuilders, property developers and facilities managers and has provided an innovative means of showcasing the variety and quality of Wolseley’s sustainable product offering (see www.wolseleysbc.co.uk for more information). A similar facility operates at Wasco in the Netherlands. Brossette in France has also introduced “Cap Energie”,this year, a project which includes, among other things, an initiative to further develop our renewables product capabilities. Links to case studies on some of these initiatives can be found on the left of this page.
Environmental performance
This is the third year in which the Group has reported on its environmental performance. The Group has developed an improved data collection tool this year to evaluate the data. These enhancements have helped us to understand the accuracy and completeness of the data collected by our businesses and will be used to improve our data analysis and reporting in next year’s report. This year’s data has been reviewed for completeness and quality and analysed by an independent third party.
With the geographically dispersed and decentralised nature of our operations, although the integrity of data gathered has improved significantly, complete and reliable data in all categories has been difficult to obtain from all locations. The scale of the Group’s operations has changed significantly over the past year as a result of the global economic environment and the consequential effect on our businesses’ markets. In addition, the Company sold Stock
Building Supply in May 2009, retaining minority shareholding in a joint venture with The Gores Group; environmental data relating to that business is not included in this report. These events have had a commensurate effect on the Group’s environmental impact.
For these reasons, including the overall improvement in the quality of data produced since last year, it is not useful to provide a direct comparison with the Group’s environmental performance in previous years, nor does it provide a useful indication of future trends.
We expect to improve the scope and integrity of the data that we collect to present a basis for year-on-year comparisons in future reports.