Bentley Motors has become the first company to be awarded South Pole’s Net Zero Plastic to Nature accreditation after engaging in a successful waste stewardship appraisal. The status, which is internationally-recognized, reflects the company’s ongoing environmental initiatives and is a key part of Bentley’s Beyond100 strategy to achieve end- to-end carbon neutrality by 2030.
To secure the status, Bentley has invested in certified units that support two of South Pole’s projects focused on developing specialist plastic waste collection and recycling infrastructure projects. These are with Neela Saga in India and Second Life in Thailand. This action ensures that the full volume of non-processed plastic waste found in the 2021 study has been effectively mitigated.
Peter Bosch, Member of the Board for Manufacturing at Bentley Motors, explains: “Our drive towards a plastic-free future is an essential part of our Beyond100 strategy and this pioneering collaboration with South Pole has helped us evaluate the impact of the steps we’ve been taking to reduce and recycle plastic reduce around our site by examining every aspect of our logistics value chain. From the bubble wrap and foam used to package inbound parts, to the car body covers and shrink wrap processes employed on vehicle protection and aftersales materials, no stone has been left unturned and we’ve been able to make quick and effective changes.
“For example, we have reduced the amount of plastic parts protection on outbound products from 13 items to six. By removing unnecessary items like vinyl wheel protection and wiper blade covers, we’ve removed 12 tonnes of plastic from our outbound packaging operations in a year – and we’re ensuring that where plastic is still needed to ensure our cars arrive in perfect condition, it is minimal, lightweight and has low CO2 impact.
“Other measures, such as reducing unnecessary packaging for items moved around site, have reduced plastic shrink-wrap waste by 86 per cent. Even the plastic banding we use to secure items on pallets has gone under the microscope, as we’ve carried out tests on a cardboard replacement to ensure that it is equally as effective. We also recognised that one of the greatest contributors is inbound logistics packaging, so we are working closely with our suppliers to reduce packaging on inbound parts – as well as empowering colleagues to quickly and effectively reuse packaging around site.
“As a global brand this process has helped us gain a broader perspective and insight into our footprint out in our regions and we will follow with great interest the progress of the two plastic waste and recycling projects our credits will support in Thailand and India. Our next step is to broaden the scope to cover other aspects of our business.”