Juice company on easy street to low carbon

Gerber Juice Company is saving 763 tonnes of CO2, 200,000 litres of diesel fuel and around 330,000 road miles - with a simple solution.


The company has partnered up with provider of global pallet and pooling systems CHEP UK, to set up an on-site sortation and repair facility, resulting in cost savings and substantially reduced carbon footprints for both businesses.

Previously, CHEP pallets from customers would have been sent from Cornwall, Devon and Somerset to Avonmouth in Bristol for repair and re-distribution.

However, under the new arrangement, CHEP pallets are repaired at the dedicated pallet repair centre based on Gerber’s manufacturing site in Bridgwater, Somerset.

The solution has led to the removal of 330,000 dedicated UK road miles and an additional 40 road journeys annually from the UK to Europe and back.

As well as fuel and carbon cutting, the facility has created ten jobs in Somerset and also has sufficient capacity to allow additional repaired pallets to be supplied to other local manufacturers, saving them thousands of road miles and tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Gerber’s repair facility has been shortlisted for an innovation award at the Somerset Business Awards 2012.

Alan Armstead, logistics manager for Gerber Juice Company said: “Our on-site repair centre provides a sustainable way of reducing costs and environmental impact, across the supply chain.

“Our objective was to create a long term environmentally-friendly and commercially-viable solution to pallet sortation and repair in the South West.”

Conor McGlone

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