As we celebrate Earth Month, Purolator remains committed to minimizing our environmental impact through sustainable business practices. Our goal is to become Canada's greenest courier and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, a mission we take seriously.
To achieve this ambitious goal, we have adopted a multifaceted approach that includes purchasing renewable energy certificates (RECs), improving the efficiency of our operations and introducing all-electric vehicles and low-carbon solutions for our fleet. These initiatives reflect our unwavering commitment to environmental sustainability and the protection of our planet.
“We are committed to taking meaningful action towards a more sustainable future. From our investment in renewable energy certificates and energy-efficient upgrades to our introduction of fully electric curbside-delivery trucks, we are leading the way in green logistics and setting an example for others to follow,” said Cindy Bailey, Corporate Sustainability Officer, Purolator. “Together with our customers and partners, we will continue to make a positive impact on the environment and reduce our carbon footprint. At Purolator, we believe that sustainability isn't just a goal, it's our responsibility."
Renewable energy certificates
To help meet our goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, Purolator is developing a renewable energy strategy that increases our use of renewable electricity. We partnered with Bullfrog Power to purchase renewable energy certificates (RECs) for our operations to offset the equivalent emissions associated with our purchased electricity from non-renewable sources. This year, we are purchasing a comparable amount of renewable electricity to balance our emissions from electricity use at all our facilities in Nova Scotia and Alberta, thereby reducing our Scope 2 emissions by approximately 70 per-cent.
Delivering for our planet by diverting waste from landfills
Continuous improvement in our environmental performance plays a critical role in becoming Canada’s greenest courier. Purolator launched a Waste Diversion Program in 2022 to help divert 70 per cent of our waste from landfills by 2030. Within the program, facilities across Canada are incorporating operational changes to shift their waste from landfills into recycling and reuse streams. Currently, the program is focusing on the highest landfill waste-producing facilities and provinces where we can implement recycling solutions across several locations simultaneously.
From October 2021 to October 2022, facilities participating in our program reduced their landfill waste by 22 per cent. We also achieved an overall landfill waste diversion rate of 63 per cent. We accomplished this by reducing our waste by 670 metric tonnes and recycling 1,500 metric tonnes of cardboard, over 2,200 metric tonnes of scrap wood, over 120 metric tonnes of plastic film and over 330 metric tonnes of mixed-recycling material.
“Environmental sustainability is critical to Purolator’s and our customers’ success. Our Waste Diversion Program has been instrumental in reducing our landfill waste by 22 per cent in just one year,” said Anna Oandasan, Senior Consultant, Sustainability and Reporting, Purolator. “We are proud of our achievements to date and remain focused on our goal of diverting 70 per cent of our waste from landfills by 2030. In doing so, we will continue to look for new and innovative ways to reduce, reuse and recycle.”
LED lighting
To date, over 70 LED retrofits have been completed at our sites across Canada. As a result of these installations, our emissions have decreased by approximately 8 tonnes of CO2e per year. Also in 2022, we installed more than 200 new, energy-efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) units across our network.
Fully electric delivery vehicles
We recently announced our plans to invest $1 billion in our fleet electrification program. This includes purchasing more than 3,500 fully electric last-mile delivery vehicles and the electrification of over 60 terminals across Canada over the next seven years. In the coming months, we will add 25 Ford E-Transit™, 55 Motiv Power Systems EPIC4 and 15 BrightDrop Zevo 600 all-electric delivery vans, as well as several low-speed vehicles and e-bikes to our fleet. For more information on our commitment to environmental sustainability, please click here.
