18/10/2024 News
How to improve your workshop sustainability
What does being more sustainable mean for independent garages?
Here are just five examples of real initiatives garages have told us about through our Fit for the Future award:
- Planting trees around workshop site, boosting biodiversity and supporting carbon capture
- Installing rooftop solar for on site renewable generation, energy consumption reduction and grid pay-back
- Improving recycling of materials including tyres, batteries, scrap metal and oil
- Using recycled parts, including engines, and focusing on repairing rather than replacing
- Supporting employee engagement through cycle to work schemes
These efforts increasingly matter to garage customers. They are looking for workshops to carry out repairs and improvements as sustainably as possible – and mechanics who invest in sustainable and environmental solutions can reap the rewards.
In fact, 65% of UK car or van owners said they would accept paying a higher price for vehicle maintenance products if they delivered environmental or sustainability benefits, according to a TotalEnergies survey.
There are many small ways in which a workshop might make a start on its sustainability journey – last year, the judges from our Fit For the Future award heard from workshops across the UK, who had implemented sustainable changes from installing rooftop solar panels through to supporting local biodiversity and planting trees.
The 2024 Fit for the Future award competition is now open for entries.
For any workshop, mitigating waste issues by disposing of all materials in a responsible manner is an essential step towards improving sustainability.
For example, revaluating your lubricant and oil ranges and associated packaging, which can take up large amounts of space within workshops, might be the first step in managing waste.
Additionally, establishing procedures which ensure you are not opening new containers of product before completely finishing, and correctly disposing of, your previous ones as well as regularly checking stock and keeping track of opened packaging, mitigates against spoiled product and streamlines efficiency for stocktaking and future ordering.
In a recent TotalEnergies survey, almost a quarter of participants stated that they would be more attracted to products which came in recyclable or biodegradable packaging compared to those that didn’t. Workshops can mitigate product waste while also winning customer loyalty by investing in an eco-efficient product which both cuts down plastic usage and optimises storage efficiency.
Another way of effectively investing in sustainable solutions issues includes prioritising products and manufacturers which provide solutions for minimising carbon costs across the supply chain.
TotalEnergies, for example, is the only major energy company still manufacturing vehicle lubricants domestically in the UK – helping to provide both supply chain security and locality.
At the same time, solutions like Quartz Box have been designed to be shipped economically, with a higher volume of product per pallet which reduces the number of shipments on the road as well as improving space utilisation for workshops and their suppliers.
In addition to cutting carbon costs across the supply chain, many workshops are looking to gear up their on site recycling – including of lubricant products.
Oil recycling services offer the collection, processing and regeneration of waste oil created by workshop activities into new product, massively assisting in the transition to becoming more sustainable and improving circularity.
