environment

Environment

We’re finding new ways to protect our planet. Our journey to net zero is well underway.

Our responsibility

OUR COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY

We understand the extent of our environmental responsibilities. The climate crisis is a challenge for every business, we must make better use of the world’s resources and minimise our impact on the planet.

Our challenge is to maintain productivity and drive ongoing business growth while reducing our carbon footprint, increasing circularity, and enhancing biodiversity.

Our sustainability strategy sets out clear objectives for the coming years, helping us maintain our focus on greening our operations. We’re confident of meeting our targets, and will continue striving to improve. It’s all a part of our commitment to the next generation.

Environment

OUR SUSTAINABILITY OBJECTIVES

We express our sustainability goals by reference to our values, ensuring we maintain our focus and build a better, greener future.

Personal

We commit to providing the best conditions in which our people can work, helping them thrive in their roles. We treat everyone with respect and fairness, showing sensitivity to their personal circumstances and supporting them in every phase of life.

Professional

We commit to adopting green practices in our production processes. For example, by 2030, we pledge to use 25% recycled content across all our products, rising to 50% by 2040. By 2022, we will have quantified carbon footprints for every order that leaves our premises.

Ethical

We commit to reducing our carbon footprint and improving our local landscape. By 2035, we will be carbon neutral for scope 1 and 2 emissions. By 2040, we will attain net zero for scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. And by 2022, we will establish a biodiversity baseline for our estate and outline a biodiversity strategy for the coming eight years.

our impact

WHAT WE’VE ACHIEVED SO FAR

Our journey to net zero and enhanced biodiversity is well underway. Here are some of our achievements to date.

We’ve pioneered the use of warm-mix asphalt, developing “Warmwright” – a quality-assured asphalt product that is made and transported at a lower temperature than conventional mixes. This minimises energy consumption, making a significant contribution to carbon reduction.

We’ve embraced the use of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) as a fuel source for our Contracting machinery. This leads to an average 90% reduction in carbon emissions compared to gas oil. It is also cleaner to burn, bringing health benefits to our people and members of the public.

In addition, we’re electrifying our company car fleet. Every member of our executive team now drives a pure-electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Employees who do not receive a company car can enrol on a salary sacrifice scheme to fund their purchase of a green vehicle.

We make extensive use of solar power at our two asphalt plants. Avonmouth Asphalt also utilises a heat-exchange system to recycle heat generated by production processes and minimise waste.

We’ve increased our use of Recycled Asphalt Products (RAP) to enhance circularity in our production processes, thereby minimising waste. We’re gradually increasing the percentage RAP use in our mixes as we look to make ever greater use of materials that would traditionally have been discarded during a resurfacing operation.

We’re working with conservation charities such as the Somerset Wildlife Trust to establish our biodiversity baseline and identify ways of enhancing species diversity across our estate.

OUR SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY

Download the Wainwright Sustainability Strategy to read the full extent of our targets for the years ahead.