• This month the Road Haulage Association is climbing on
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to the green bandwagon with the publication of an environmental code of conduct.
It includes practical ways of reducing environmental pollution, from noise to oil spillages, and gives advice on how to counter attacks from an anti-truck public.
The document follows the REA's 1989 leaflet Care of the Environment, encouraging clean vehicles and tidy depots. It also asks hauliers to think about recycling. For most, such morally sound advice is all very well as long as it does not cost too much. But for operators who can afford it, environmental self-analysis can be taken one step further.
The London-based company Environmental Resources (ERL), in co-operation with transport consultant Transtech Consultancy Services, offers "environmental audits" of transport companies. These audits could make hard business sense, as they cover health and safety, and keeping within the law.
So far ERL/Transtech's main clients have been large own-account or distribution operations. Some doubtless feel that a show of environmental awareness will impress companies' potential customers; they may even want to examine the environmental soundness of a company they are intending to buy.
Commercial Motor, however, decided to test the services on a smaller operator.
S&S Services, which moved into its Tonbridge premises only three years ago, is proud of its modern environment. It was happy to be our guinea-pig for a half-day audit: other operators we approached had refused; some because of time restraints, others because they were concerned about dirty washing being aired in public.
S&S runs 10 tractive units, seven rigids, and 16 semi-trailers. It has 3,700m2 of warehousing space with room for 5,000 pallets, and employs 26.
The company stores and distributes a range of ambient food and non-food products, from cherries and yeast extract to plastics and fabricated steel. Managing director David Sanderson says: "Our industry is small and fragmented; environmental awareness is all very well but cost is the bottom line. The industry as a whole will only take up standards if they are imposed by legislation. It will not take up advice alone."
Sanderson and his brother Ken, who run the company between them, stress that they take environmental matters seriously, and follow the RHA's Care of the Environment. Their father, now semi-retired but still company chairman, even spends time cultivating the strips of garden which surround the depot.
The environmental audit started with a tour round the workshop.
S&S has three interceptors at its site for filtering waste liquids which service its workshop and its vehicle wash. They are cleaned every two years. Waste liquids are then put into the main drainage system or into the stream that runs alongside the depot.
Discharging liquid into the stream is obviously not ideal, but having an interceptor at all is "very good", says ERL/Transtech. "Although it is a legal requirement Co have an interceptor, it is common for dangerous waste products to be dumped down the drain without any filtering."
Because the stream is so close to the site, detergent spray from the vehicle wash could end up in the stream without having passed through an interceptor, says ERL/Transtech: it suggests that S&S Services should build a wall between the depot and the stream to prevent this. It noted that there was some build-up of solid waste on the banks of the stream.
On waste products in general S&S Services is performing well, partly because it does not generate too much waste. However, ERL/Transtech says the company should consider recycling the paper and plastic waste products.
ERL/Transtech then examined S&S Services oil storage facilities. It has two oil tanks: one for storage of new oil, which is built into the roof of the workshop, and one for used oil, which is outside the workshop.
The new oil tank came up to scratch, and the old oil tank was sturdy too. ERL/Transtech stresses that it is important that used oil tanks are protected from the elements, to prevent tanks rusting and rupturing. Protective measures might include building a wall around a tank or lifting it off the ground. When the tank is full S&S has the used oil taken away by contractors: "They are positively queueing up to buy it off us," says David Sanderson. ERL/Transtech admits this is unusual.
The audit then examined the fuel efficiency of the workshop. Heat loss was low because it is insulated with breeze blocks as well as bricks. However, it was suggested that the door should be insulated and that when the door was opened to allow trucks to drive in, the heater should be turned off, ideally with a cut-off mechanism.
The overall summary was that the workshop is better than most, although there was a shortage of storage space, and it was exceptionally clean.
S&S's warehouse also passed the test with flying colours. It is double skinned for insulation and does not need to be heated. Even the bulbs are energy efficient.
On vehicles, ERL/Transtech said the fuel efficiency of vehicles should be looked at, and the company should consider training its drivers in fuel-efficient driving.
ERL/Transtech's conclusion about S&S Services was that although the audit was in no way comprehensive, it was clear that the company had done well, and was a "good neighbour".
David Sanderson's conclusion, however, was that although a few points had been raised by the audit, it had not been very useful: "I can't see even medium sized companies wanting to have this service." 0 by Mary Williams