Collaborative sustainable solutions with our partner Bunzl

Churchill partnered with Bunzl in September 2019 as part of our sustainability strategy. The journey we have undertaken with Bunzl since then has been fast paced, eye-opening and exciting with targets set to ensure continuous development of sector leading sustainable products and supply/delivery processes

We have considered opportunities across our cleaning product range focussing on four key areas of sustainability:

• plastic reduction
• plant-based materials
• improving recyclability
• carbon footprint reduction

Here are just some of the collaborative solutions and great products that have helped us in making achievements in these areas.

Plastic reduction

We began with switching our cleaning chemicals used by Churchill cleaning operatives to Bunzl’s soluble cleaning sachets, paired with the reusable trigger spray bottles, to reduce the amount of single use plastics and transport emissions associated with delivering the products. Since first introducing the soluble sachet cleaning supplies at Churchill, we have prevented over 140 tonnes of single-use plastics from entering the waste stream since 2019. That is equivalent to over 17 thousand Henry Hoovers!

Plant-based materials

To achieve our aim of working with more sustainable, plant-based materials, Churchill has begun using Cleanworks ProEco Compostable cloths. The cloth is certified EN 13432 evidencing the cloth meets stringent compost guidelines the material breakdowns within six months of its disposal. It is also created with PEFC certified plant-derived materials. The cloth can be used with a variety of chemical solvents and after rinsing-out can be disposed of in the food waste bin for industrial composting. Each pack of 50 cloths also saves 250g of plastic waste on average.

Improving recyclability

To help us to reach the goal of embedding circularity within our operations, we introduced OdorBac product into our supply line. OdorBac is a powerful all-in-one odour eliminator and multi-purpose commercial cleaner. The product arrives in 100% recycled HDPE bottles in a highly concentrated format that is diluted on site for the required applications. This product also comes with LoopBox, a closed loop initiative whereby four standard 5L cartons become our own reusable ‘LoopBox’, designed to encourage the collection and return of empty bottles. They are backhauled to the supplier who then washes, refills, and redistributes the product, keeping the bottles in use in a fully closed loop recycling system. We are currently mobilising the adoption of LoopBox across all Churchill client sites using Odorbac targeting to  prevent over 1.6 tonnes of CO2 entering the atmosphere across a 12-month period, contributing to our carbon footprint reduction.

Carbon reduction

Carbon reduction is central to our sustainability strategy.  One of the many success stories that we have worked on in collaboration with Bunzl is to reduce the frequency of deliveries to client sites, with the sole purpose of reducing the carbon intensity of deliveries. As a result of streamlining the process and reducing the number of small order deliveries, we were able to reduce the carbon footprint from deliveries by 32.6 tCO2e during the 21/22 Financial year.  This is equivalent to the emissions from a car driving approximately 132,000 miles.

The partnership between Churchill and Bunzl has been a huge success.

Anna Edwards, Head of Sustainability for Bunzl said: “Working with Churchill has been extremely rewarding, both in witnessing their brilliant, forward thinking sustainable practices develop, and seeing them in practice with our fantastic products. Supporting another business that seriously values and prioritises sustainable practices the way that Churchill does is what we’re all about at Bunzl, and we are so pleased our product offering has seen such great levels of success for them.”

We are delighted with our progress together so far and look forward to seeing what future developments this partnership will bring.