How to "Green Up" Your Logistics Operation

Nick Saunders, President of NCS Logistics, describes the simple steps a company can take to become an environmentally minded logistics company. The family-owned, third party logistics company’s, mission is to
provide environmentally friendly logistics services.

What are some easy ways to “green up” a business?

Saunders: The first thing that people can do, no matter what kind of business you are, is to promote an internal recycling program. Part of the program should be to also educate and encourage your staff on how to recycle at home too. Not everyone is knowledgeable about recycling, and it’s always nice when your workplace can provide you with information.

The second thing any company can do is reduce its energy use. We have a “lights off when unoccupied” policy. If a whole section of the warehouse is not being used, the lights are automatically shut down using motion sensors.

You can also reduce energy by just keeping your office a little cooler in the winter and maybe a little warmer in the summer.

Are you a proponent of purchasing energy credits?

Saunders: Definitely. You can do the industry a great service, as well as your own business, by purchasing energy credits. We’ve purchased 100 percent pure wind energy to cover our already small consumption.

Typically there is an extra expense for those credits. We were paying 9 cents per kilowatt, and now we’re paying 11.5 cents. So it’s about a 20 percent increase.

This is where sustainability doesn’t always make economic sense, but it’s a decision that should correlate to your mission. If you are in business to either (a) “green up” or (b) help other people be “green,” it’s a real simple way to do it.

Ideally, by implementing energy saving policies, you are also reducing your energy consumption. So if your consumption goes down and the price goes up (using energy credits), as long as the consumption goes down more than the price goes up, you still come out ahead.

What are some of the effective, yet “less than free” ways for a logistics company to become sustainable?

Saunders: It can invest in green vehicles. We have a hybrid courier fleet — all Prius vehicles. For each 15,000 miles traveled in a Prius, you save 2.2 tons of carbon dioxide from going into the atmosphere.

What if you aren’t in a financial position to purchase a “green” fleet?

Saunders: One choice is to outsource — use a third party that’s “green.” You can essentially integrate your needs into the third-party’s program.

For example, we’re the only green courier service in Maine and New England, and for larger or truck deliveries we are an EPA Smartway partner. So, when our customers partner with us, they are automatically reducing carbon emissions and helping to help reduce carbon emissions.

Looking ahead, do you see other easy ways to become greener?

Saunders: We believe in heavily leveraging technology to lessen your carbon footprint. By doing so, you improve your customers’ carbon footprint too.

We’ve recently invested in a static routing program. These wireless information devices allow us to do everything digitally. By
leveraging technology, essentially we can reduce our use of paper and pass that savings on to the customer.

Can you really save much money going paperless?

Saunders: You’d be amazed what you save when you do most of your correspondence via email and meetings are recorded digitally. It’s a trend we’d like to see more companies embrace.

You’ll notice you won’t spend as much per month on administrative supplies — whether it’s paper, folders, or toner. It may sound small, but we’ve saved a good chunk of money.

Any other ideas on “greening up”?

Saunders: Be creative. We’ve started a pallet program to help our clients reduce the number of pallets they were using by improving the quality of the pallets — they can reuse pallets as opposed to discarding them. It saves them money by not buying new pallets continually, and it reduces the impact on landfills.

It doesn’t work for all customers. But for others, we might try to help by returning pallets or shipping them back, if we can. It seems like a lot of logistical headaches, but we’ve refined the process and view it as a recycling program.

It’s simple. You just make a decision to be environmental.

In This Issue

News, Trends & Analysis
New Items

Glimmer of Recovery

Supply Chain
A Quick Primer on Site Selection

Managing with the Supply Chain in Mind

Compliance Corner: Trade Compliance Requires a Focus on Information Gathering

How to Green Up Your Logistics Operation

Supply Chain product review
Trucking Software

Special Section
Creating the Extraordinary — the Prince Rupert Story

Features
Building a Future from Drayage Wreckage

Gateway at a Glance Pacific Northwest

Ports & infrastructure
Stimulus Bill Has Cash for Ports . . . for the Right Projects

What Shippers Need from Inland Ports

Port Product Review
Lift Trucks

Commentary
New Trends Driving Transpacific Trade

Who, What, Where, When

Final Say