Tackling Plastic with Juniper Networks & Aston Martin Aramco F1®: Packaging, Models, and Beyond

0:02 hello everyone welcome to today's fireside chat on waste reduction especially

0:10 plastic waste I am Ashu Gupta uh director for manufacturing operations in

0:16 Juniper and today I have the distinct pleasure of inviting uh Our Guest Ben

0:23 fitgerald who is the director of operations for eston Martin aramco Formula 1 team welcome Ben hi Ashley

0:32 thank you thank you to everybody for inviting me so before we get started Ben

0:37 um can I just ask you to maybe give me a little bit of an introduction of what you do um in

0:44 amf1 yeah absolutely we've just heard from CLA uh our Chief Information

0:49 officer and um and Eric our Deputy technical director both of those people obviously work within uh the team here

0:56 at silverston to continue to develop race after race year after year our

1:01 Formula 1 car um and fundamentally my responsibility at the at the simplest level is to make sure that the parts and

1:08 the product that is required to race are available track side and uh just for

1:14 everybody's benefit I explained to Ashu earlier today that um to get us to where

1:19 we are at this point in the season we've made nearly 10,000 parts per race so

1:24 what appears to be a very glamorous um race spectacle that we see on the

1:30 television um which ab absolutely is as a sport back at the factory there's a

1:35 huge effort all 850 staff we have here in silverston we work 24 hours a day

1:42 seven days a week to be able to get through the development of the car race after race week after week and in effect

1:50 we get to a point where um we have to do this in a sustainable um very uh

1:58 financially sound way and that drives our approach and Innovation on both

2:03 waste sustainability and um and value for money wonderful so so Ben before we get

2:11 started um I thought you know I was reading about the topic itself and there

2:17 were some amazing facts that I found related to plastic pollution so um I

2:23 want to talk to you about those uh before we get into the actual discussion so any

2:30 we generate about 400 million tons of plastic waste as species that's you know

2:39 I couldn't get my head around it so if I think about the total weight of humans

2:45 on this Earth we generate the equivalent of that in annual plastic waste every

2:51 year and only about 9% less than 10% of that gets recycled so if if you think

2:59 about that we are releasing into the environment almost the same weight of

3:06 all humans on Earth every year U and a lot of that goes into our water streams

3:12 so it comes kind of back to us all of the plastic almost all of the plastic is generated by fossil fuels so there are

3:19 emissions um implications to that um you know there is saying all waste is bad

3:26 bad in in an efficient organization we don't want waste plastic waste is especially

3:34 bad because it it just remains there you cannot get rid of it um so it's it it is

3:41 imperative for all of us to be able to drive as much of possible uh the

3:47 reduction in plastic use um and that's what we are going to talk about

3:53 today any any thoughts on the on the facts that I just mentioned it's incredible you I guess

4:00 the scale of the business is huge you know from from Juniper's side from the

4:06 amf1 side equally we are producing a lot of product relative to the you know to

4:12 to our end goal which is to to win a race and subsequently to win a world championship within within Formula One

4:18 um I I think from from my perspective we have although we have very different scales of challenge the fundamental core

4:25 principle of what we're trying to do is the same you know we are trying to reduce plastic waste trying to become

4:31 more sustainable businesses and and that for me I think is what we will'll explore shortly and and how much plastic

4:39 waste approximately amf1 is producing every year um that if if you have that

4:45 information so yeah what I have a slightly different uh a slightly different answer I guess um Ashley

4:51 because from our perspective we have we have so much varied waste whether it's composite waste resin waste um metallic

4:59 waste and and plastic waste so totally we produce about 361 tons of waste uh in

5:06 2023 this year we're on target to reduce that which is which which is great great news um of the 361 tons that we've

5:14 produced um 60% of it in the last 12 months was recycled and 36% of it was

5:21 recovered so so you know we are actively trying to you know improve our our

5:27 sustainability in this regard or our Waste Management and fundamentally that comes back to some of the benefits that we see both as

5:34 a society within amf1 and in the immediate surrounding areas within the UK oh that's very interesting um I mean

5:42 I I would give you an equivalent number from juniper side so we used 2022 which

5:48 is our Baseline year uh we used more than 1 million pounds of plastic in our

5:54 packaging alone so I'm discounting everything that we use in our operations or in the products just in packaging we

6:00 used more than a million pounds of plastic um we were able to reduce significant amount of it about 12% from

6:08 2022 to 2023 um about 130,000 pounds um probably

6:14 would be about maybe 70,000 you know kilograms I I would say or maybe 60,000

6:20 kilograms but if I all of these numbers you know don't mean much unless I I'm

6:27 able to visualize it right so we visualized it what is it in terms of you

6:32 know number of plastic bottles for example so1 130,000 is equivalent to a football

6:40 stadium filled with plastic bottles instead of people so that's the kind of the scale of plastic reduction and

6:47 plastic use that we're talking about within just our packaging and Juniper is

6:52 not a you know a huge company there are companies that are much bigger than us

6:58 so I want to emphas iiz to the audience kind of the scale of the issue that we are talking about um at hand um now

7:08 let's let's maybe talk about some of the drivers um can you can you speak to what

7:14 is driving eston Martin Formula 1 team to focus on waste especially plastic

7:20 waste and how you reduce it in your day-to-day operations yeah absolutely obviously for

7:27 the audience um as a business with in the UK we recognize and and are working towards the UK plastic pars targets so

7:35 that's our requirement uh driven um by the UK plastic pack um there are M

7:41 mainly there are four targets so we um Target one is to eliminate problematic

7:47 or unnecessary single-use plastic packaging and that's really how do we adjust how we operate design and

7:54 manufactur components uh to remove that waste the second Target then for us um

8:00 as part of the UK plastic pack is that um the 100% of our packaging that we use

8:06 needs to be reusable recyclable or compostable yeah now there are some simple things in that regard where even

8:14 uh in the factory itself with the 850 that I people I talked about earlier on

8:19 um at the moment we are using uh compostable cups for example uh as as part of coffee and and when in Formula 1

8:27 producing um you know such signific ific amounts of of parts per person uh coffee

8:32 is a very important product to the to the efficiency of the organization so we are using a lot of those cups at this

8:38 moment in time what we are about to do is is to issue a um a metallic cup

8:44 probably be an aluminium cup reusable cup and then remove that waste within our within our

8:49 organization and when we get to Target three we're then into 70% of plastic packaging effectively recyclable or

8:56 composted so in effect this is a slightly reduced um Target I think we

9:02 should actually aim for Target two and then Target four um is 30% of average

9:08 recycled content across all plastic packaging so they're the staged uh elements of the UK plastic PCT that's

9:14 our key um driver uh external influence from outside of the business I also

9:21 mentioned earlier on about internally we have our our um regulations that that

9:26 that basically um create the way that we operate as a Formula One team so whether

9:32 it's a technical regulation a sporting regulation Financial regulation or a sustainability or an environmental um

9:40 regulation from that perspective financially we are driven to continue to

9:46 take waste from our system plastic or anything else really which is a great way that um that the F and the

9:54 organizations as the teams are now coming together to work and understand how we can best utilize our common

10:02 understanding Comm common practices so they are the two perhaps One external factor and one internal Factor that's

10:08 driving our our our work in this area that's that's really interesting because

10:13 um I think for us as well the the activity really started with the EU

10:19 regulations around tax on single use plastic um we ship a lot of our product

10:24 to EU um and we do use uh signific ific amount of plastic in our packaging so it

10:31 would have you know resulted in increased cost for us to be able to ship that amount of plastic into EU um for

10:38 the benefit of the audience I I think we are going to be using three different types of plastics in in the discussion

10:45 so I want to clarify that for for everyone um single use plastic is

10:51 something that cannot be recycled so you use it and it goes into a landfill

10:56 basically there is really nothing you can do about it then you have have what I call Virgin plastic that could be a

11:03 single- use plastic or it could be plastic that can be recycled but virgin plastic means new plastic being created

11:10 from fossil fuel and then we have something called recycled plastic which

11:15 as the term implies you are recycling the older plastic to create uh new

11:21 plastic and it's in in terms of what is the worst single use plastic is the

11:27 worst virgin plastic is the next and recycled plastic is the best if you have

11:33 to use plastic you would like to use as much of the recycled plastic as uh possible so I was coming back to the

11:40 regulations part this is how we started on on our journey when we looked at the

11:45 upcoming regulations in EU especially in in Spain UK Italy um we realize that

11:52 it's going to cost us a lot if we don't you know change what we do and um and

11:59 then at at some level I feel like everybody is an environmental Steward right and

12:05 you know all the employees our customers our stakeholders they would all like to

12:11 do the right thing so once the regulations move us in in a certain direction it picks up momentum and then

12:18 you you know work on it work on it and you reduce um the amount of plastic that you're using in whichever operations or

12:25 uh your product uh we talking about and it's interesting I think I also want to touch on the um the cups the compostable

12:34 cups that that you talked about um one of our employees or or several of our employees highlighted the amount of you

12:42 know plastic bottles or the number of plastic bottles we were using um in meetings uh in our cafeteria as well as

12:50 these twoo boxes that that people use to take food home or take food to their uh

12:56 desk rather than eating uh onsite and we were using plastic for both of those so

13:01 our our teams worked on getting rid of both of those activities you know we have non-plastic basically uh utensils

13:09 that we are using but I like that idea of metallic cups um you know that will be something that uh that sounds

13:15 interesting so I'll keep in touch with you on on how that goes and we hopefully we Implement that on our side as well um

13:23 so now let's move on to um the

13:29 um the actions that that you're taking uh related to this do you differentiate between virgin plastic versus recycled

13:38 plastic I'm not talking about you know recyclable plastic but do you guys have any any thoughts around I want to use as

13:45 much recycled plastic as possible yeah it's an interesting question ashle you I

13:51 guess where where we where we are um as a Formula One team we have high

13:56 development you know we we touched on earlier through the year if we um

14:02 structure part numbers required to build a car we may see more than 20,000

14:07 released Parts yet with small batch quantities so so we're in a very very

14:13 fast turnaround highly bespoke you know development organization and I think from my

14:21 perspective what we see here is a real challenge because while we we still have

14:26 to consider our contribution to the trade back we should also consider you know how contribution to to the to the

14:33 to the planet you you mentioned we're all stewards of the environment y now

14:39 where we are um where we are operating within Formula 1 we use a lot of um SLA

14:46 so they they they are basically 3D printed Plastics um typically we'll be we'll be

14:52 we'll be virgin Plastics or single-use Plastics um we do not differentiate between the two however what we do

14:59 recognize is that when we produce the components there is also a lot of waste within the manufacturing process of

15:05 which some is 90% plus wasted resin material okay now again we as a Formula

15:13 One team we're driven by the innovation of how we improve this process how do we make it more uh efficient and how do we

15:20 take more product from the investment that we've made now while we do that we have done a

15:27 hell of a lot of work in understanding how we can turn the utilization of that

15:33 raw material um into more finished product in effect becoming more

15:39 sustainable and at that point what we realized is that where we have low yield currently you know nine or 10% similar

15:46 to some of the plastic usage were talking about earlier on we actually um are able now to recycle or reuse the

15:53 resin yeah with through a a process that we've set up with the supply chain so

15:59 effect where we lose the material and we don't take the yield of the raw material the resin will be returned and recycled

16:05 and we reproduce parts from the same batch so from our perspective that's a real big step forward um within our

16:13 additive manufacturing world where we can now start to improve our recycling

16:19 of the raw material to improve our um reduction strategies or our our process

16:25 within reducing waste but also allows us to produce more product from that same raw material so it helps us with our

16:32 with our increased throughput yeah that's that's again very interesting I think that is a there's a

16:38 slight what I call the difference in the business model um your company is its

16:44 own customer right so for us it it is we ship these products to customers and

16:51 then there is very little opportunity for Juniper um itself to be able to reuse

16:57 that plastic or recycle it uh or get it back and in that sense um you know the

17:03 stakeholder involvement becomes a pretty big deal um so if if our customers um

17:10 request for example us to uh become more sustainable there is a very big

17:15 contribution from them uh to be able to do some of those things that you talked about on site when they are you know

17:22 taking the packaging off of the uh product and and I think that's probably

17:27 the the reason why we we are emphasizing primarily on moving a

17:33 lot of the plastic used to recycled plastic as much as possible um because

17:39 of that reason because we don't know what happens to that plastic once it gets to our customers locations um it

17:46 might get discarded it might get recycled or not so we want to minimize the you know the footprint from ours

17:52 point of view and that requires us to minimize the um use of Virgin plastic in

17:57 our uh Packaging um that brings me to a very interesting um Point here around

18:05 challenges what challenges do you see um on this journey as well as some of the

18:12 activities that you are you are taking up to reduce uh waste to reduce plastic

18:18 waste especially uh within the organization yeah absolutely I I mean

18:23 there are a couple of things within the organization you touched on ash there a very good point that we are we are our

18:29 own supplier and customer so so in internally we we are in complete control

18:34 of of what we do now um from our perspective that is that is a great

18:40 opportunity to make a real difference within the organization um but I think that the core the core driver behind it

18:46 is an understanding of everybody that is within the organization and and the surrounding areas within the supply

18:52 chain to really understand why are we doing this yeah why are we trying to reduce waste particularly plastic waste

18:59 why are we trying to become more sustainable and as part of our journey um along that

19:05 um along that road what we've decided is that we have implemented a um a

19:11 management system if you will that is um is linked to a British standard it's a it's an an ISO standard it's 14,000 And1

19:19 and in effect what that drives us to do um and it is a mandate of the standard

19:25 is to make sure that we measure so at least we have a data set by which we can refer which is you know I touched on

19:31 earlier on the total waste produced in 2023 this really starts to keep us

19:36 honest and aware of of of what it is that we are producing and creating I think that's I think that for me is the

19:43 first challenge yeah once you understand the scale then you can start to transact and action some of the the response and

19:51 um counter measure uh strategies that that we need to do to to continue to

19:56 push sustainability Beyond beyond that um management system we also make sure that

20:03 if we see variants to our targets that we're very open with the team yeah we we've got to make sure that people are

20:10 completely empowered and informed with where we are performing against our our

20:15 targets so I gave you the example of additive manufacturing and trying to

20:20 improve the use of the of the raw material we also um we also are in a

20:26 position where we are trying to take um what cannot be reused so where we have product that's being raw material

20:33 that's being utilized in the building that cannot be reused what else can we do with it yeah so we have seek uh seek

20:40 to find uh globally some opportunities where we can use um the raw material as

20:48 a back fill or filling uh system for roadways for example so we're currently

20:53 going through some analysis to see whether we could reuse the Raw material

20:59 rather than recycling our own world it's not as you know it's not as beneficial but at least it's a step forward for us

21:05 in that regard now the challenge comes and I think some of the questions may may push us in this direction where we

21:13 continue to develop race after race obviously we create more and more um

21:18 waste and we are using more and more raw material so the the simple question is

21:24 well for the more that you produce Ben the more waste that's created what do you do with more waste and that's where

21:30 the teams you know uh month on month we see the waste increasing we then have to start to offset with our reuse or

21:37 recycle strategies and I think Ashu there the two challenges yeah it's having our uh having our management

21:44 system making sure that we are honest open and aware of our our

21:49 contribution and then beyond that where we Implement strategies to try and manage the variances and our targets

21:56 that's just keeping the team engaged and empowered to make to make sure that we can

22:01 achieve yeah I mean I think that that's again you know that's a basic tenant of

22:07 of improvement right if you don't measure you cannot improve right the the

22:13 first thing you need is the is the baselining or the measurement of what what you currently have and I think

22:19 that's you're absolutely right that's a that's a challenge um to do especially

22:25 um for something as diverse as use of plastic you know you it it's everywhere in in your in your offices in your

22:33 cafeteria in your operations in your packaging in your product so getting all

22:39 of that together to get like an organizational level of uh plastic consumption is is pretty hard um and I I

22:46 think I want to probably speak a little bit around the challenges that um that

22:52 Juniper has from a from a scalability point of view I I think that's that's

22:57 the basic difference between the organizations right it's a it's a high volume manufacturing versus um PE spoke

23:05 but very precise manufacturing um that amf1 uh has for for us you know some of

23:11 the challenges are pretty obvious as I mentioned in the beginning um only about 9% of the total plastic that gets

23:18 produced every year is recycled and that leads to issues with Supply we just

23:25 don't have enough supply of recycled plastic uh and if there is Supply it comes at a

23:32 slight premium to using Virgin plastic and Plastics are you know incredible

23:38 from that point of view it's one of those Commodities I would say where a

23:45 recycled part is more expensive than a new part it's it's cheaper to create new

23:51 plastic than it is uh to create uh recycled plastic it's you know just in

23:57 in that that is amazing to us so what that leads to is some cost premium um on

24:04 the most parts that we want to move to recycle plastic from Virgin plastic as

24:09 well as the risk to supply because then a lot of our packaging materials are locally sourced so wherever our

24:16 manufacturing factories are and there are several uh in order to reduce risk to supply chain we have to go to local

24:23 suppliers and and get the recycled plastic packaging parts and that's

24:29 that's challenging that has been uh that has proven hard to to do and then one

24:35 very interesting challenge that we also see in in our overall

24:40 sustainability you know um world view our carbon emissions

24:46 are are as important of a metric to us as reduction in plastic and what ends up

24:54 happening is when you try to go to non-plastic Packaging or even recycled

25:00 plastic packaging generally the size and the weight of the component is bigger so

25:07 it's it's a bigger volume it's a bigger weight to get you the same cushioning

25:13 you know that you need to protect your product and you know at the end of the day packaging is is functioning as as

25:20 protection while your product is in shipment so by using heavier bigger

25:27 pieces that are non-plastic or recycled plastic you increase your Logistics

25:32 emissions so then it becomes a a game of balancing increase in logistics

25:38 emissions with the desire of reducing virgin plastic use in in your packaging

25:45 and we have developed certain models that we we rely on to see how much is

25:50 the increase in emissions and how much is the um you know reduction in plastic and so on and we make decisions that way

25:57 but I I would come back to a point I made initially some of that is dependent

26:03 on what our customers want so for example if our customers agree to using

26:11 ocean shipment for their products which of course has a increased lead time it's

26:16 much easier for us to use non-plastic packaging or recycled plastic packaging versus virgin plastic so there is

26:24 there's significant amount of stakeholder involvement customer involvement and engagement that's

26:30 required for us to make that transition to non-plastic or recycled plastic um

26:36 packaging if you want to get there you know 100% um so I I found that you know

26:43 through this activity I found that to be um the case and and I was again very

26:49 surprised the balance between the emissions versus you know plastic reduction it's it's not one any all so

26:56 you have to you know keep just like everything else I guess uh you have to make a balance between the

27:02 two um so let me just touch on um something related to emissions as

27:10 well I know Formula 1 has um very stiff targets to become Net Zero

27:16 I believe it's Net Zero by 2030 and I'm sure you know they are pushing on individual teams to you know get there

27:23 as well do you guys have any any you know specific activities or plan plans that you are doing for reducing carbon

27:30 emissions within your organization as well yeah obviously as you we we touched

27:36 on earlier on we we we have a global sport yeah 24 races a year all across

27:41 the globe so naturally that becomes challenging with regards to carbon emissions because we we constantly move

27:49 product around the globe from race to race now when we do that our key driver is

27:56 the more product that we put into a SE Freight Transportation Route rather than

28:02 Air Freight the lower the carbon contribution so that's one of our primary drivers at this moment in time

28:08 is how can we minimize Air Freight and maximize SE Freight as as a you know as

28:15 a big step forward um but but in addition to that what we also should consider is as a

28:22 group of of F1 teams a group of 10 teams we we now come together uh on a routine

28:29 basis with the FIA um to discuss and understand where we are as a team on our

28:35 journey to to Net Zero 2030 and within that environment there

28:40 is more and more common ground and understanding being developed so I think you know strategically as teams although

28:46 we're not quite there yet the the the desire and and and focus is now heading

28:52 towards 2030 at Net Zero and as the teams come together obviously the more

28:58 the more input and the more alignment that we have the more effective our journey is uh in that direction so so

29:05 there there're the two I say they're the two priorities at this moment in time um

29:10 beyond beyond that really um it's it's everything that we do as as part of our uh carbon road map so um so so we can

29:18 probably discuss that in far more detail in the future I'm sure and and I'm sure you know for for

29:25 you I mean it is for us the engagement from all of our employee base all of our

29:31 leaders in the organization um we all have to go there as one right unless you

29:38 have enthusiasm unless you have um that drive from your own organizations these

29:44 things are are really hard to to achieve so what do you guys do to um encourage

29:50 excitement within amf1 towards sustainability towards waste reduction towards emissions reductions and and so

29:56 on yeah yeah it's a really good it's a really good question Ashu and as as we touched on earlier on um it's a it's a

30:03 big challenge you know the the education peace is is a huge is a huge part of of

30:10 what we we owe to ourselves as as um stewards of of the environment but also

30:15 to to our employees and our supply chain so from our perspective um we try to um

30:22 to bring employees together in things like sustainability day so we created a day on the center of the factory um or

30:29 the center of the campus we set up maybe 15 or 20 stalls of all different types

30:36 of small businesses that have workshops on beeswax and how we can reuse it on

30:42 how we manage waste uh through recycling how we can as human beings make a better

30:48 contribution to to the environment and to our waste um by changing simple things day and day out the obvious one

30:55 that came out of that Forum or that that event was the the you know the coffee cups that we we touched on earlier on

31:01 and by by bringing people in to an environment that is still in the workplace but is completely separate and

31:09 completely isolated away from the general day-to-day work it drives to it drives some energy within within the

31:14 organization because it now becomes real yeah we can now see um a large

31:20 proportion of the the the staff that we have within the team engaging with that um that exciting environment on the on

31:26 the ground floor of the campus so that was a huge step forward for us what we also do is we have a routine

31:33 exec sponsored um sustainability um steering committee that ensures that

31:38 where we have opportunities and where we have improvements and and the the supply chain and the internal um the internal

31:46 employees come up with ideas of how we can improve there is a place for it to go as a suggestion so that we can then

31:52 put adequate resource and empowerment behind it so between you know between type of um

31:59 you know highly engaging firsthand experience with Specialists within the sustainability

32:06 Arena as well as having a a mechanistic you know uh Cadence within the the me

32:11 the organization that's how we've continue to drive the engagement and the excitement within the building yeah very

32:18 very interesting and and I think I have to say um fairly similar to the the

32:23 structure that we are adopting right I I think um much of this flows from top

32:30 down so you have to have um your leaders you know driving the importance of this

32:38 into the rest of the organization and for that purpose we we have you know incentives already um we we use

32:45 something called an okr process um we have an okr at the at the executive level where we you know sustainability

32:52 is front and center and that that kind of flows through to the rest of the organization

32:58 uh we have also created uh some employee experience pillars and one of which is

33:04 uh sustainability and again the objective is exactly the same to get ideas from the general employees um as

33:12 well as you know bit more crowdsourcing uh bit more communication on things that

33:17 we're doing well already um it's U the the motivation if you're already doing

33:23 well is far better than uh if people don't know about it so that's kind of

33:29 the other other thing that we do uh to create excitement within within our employees um at at this point Ben I

33:37 would want to transition um into maybe let's take an uh an audience question or

33:43 two if you don't mind absolutely let's do that okay so let me read the first

33:48 question that we received from our audience um can you provide more details

33:53 on the progress Juniper has made in reducing PL Plastics um so as I was mentioning in

34:01 the beginning we baselined our our plastic use just in our packaging for 2022 and

34:08 it was more than a million uh pounds of plastic that we were using um

34:14 approximately I would say about 25% of that was virgin plastic so you know

34:21 somewhere around 250,000 pounds of orgin plastic so from 2022 to 2023

34:28 we reduced our virgin plastic use by 45% in just one year again focusing on the

34:36 high volume parts that were contributing the most virgin plastic and trying to move those to recycled plastic material

34:42 as as much as possible or to non-plastic materials so we are we are trying to

34:47 move a lot of our packaging to um single type compostable which is what our

34:52 customers want as well and our customers have been have been really helpful in

34:58 you know making us get there um so we reduce our virgin plastic by 45% and our

35:03 overall plastic use by 12% just in one year from 2022 to

35:08 2023 um our targets are really ambitious I don't know if we are going to meet or

35:14 beat all of those targets but we're going to do our best so we want to reduce the overall plastic by

35:22 40% by next year by 2025 and again it's a very challenging goal

35:28 within that we want to reduce the Virgin plastic part of it to less than 15% of

35:35 the overall plastic and remember it was about 25% in 2022 so very ambitious

35:41 goals Juniper has I think we' have made very good progress um over 2022 23 uh

35:48 but you know every leg lower becomes more challenging uh but we we are on our

35:53 way um then I'll take one more questions um apart from actions Juniper and amf1

36:02 is already taking what are some effective ways organizations can

36:07 contribute to reducing plastic waste in their operations and supply chain um Ben

36:13 I I'll I'll come to you on this any any thoughts uh you want to provide on that one yeah I think we touched on a couple

36:20 of times ium regarding the supply chain so where we recognize high impact

36:26 suppliers yeah it's really for us to develop the relationship with the suppliers and continue to mature through

36:33 our um through our Target setting that they are included within this we touched

36:38 I saw 14,000 And1 earlier on where we are managing our data sets managing our

36:43 targets and empowering our our internal employees and staff to achieve them when

36:49 we go external within the supply chain we work in a very similar way yeah so where we continue to raise the awareness

36:56 with the supply chain we also expect the same commitment and drive forward so that's part of my

37:02 responsibility to encourage that um that that maurity within the supply chain beyond that when we think about um we

37:11 think about internal staff we've spoken about engagement exitement I think you mentioned about continuing the

37:16 communication I think that's keeping it front and center is really key within the organization whether it's in uh live

37:23 displays whether it's in you know leaflets that go within the within within the the building whether it's

37:28 online wherever we can we can we can publish this information we we should

37:33 and we do um and beyond that then really we at a at a very you know at a very simple level I guess we um we can take

37:42 some small examples um where internally um we use um uh some packaging at times

37:50 within the factory to protect Parts yeah because we we don't want parts to to be

37:55 to Decay during the manufact in process now where possible we've looked to reduce that that that plastic

38:03 waste either by reuse or um actually replacing it with a a better alternative

38:10 so um we now use a um a very simple cardboard or paper equivalent to the the

38:18 plastic the plastic use that we've seen previously so I think they are the three stages really of of an external supply

38:24 chain the internal manufacturing operation but also uh making sure that

38:29 the staff are continually uh communicating and and understanding of where we're at within our within our

38:35 Target setting and making sure that the supply chain follows our in our footsteps yeah absolutely and and I I

38:42 think pretty much the echo the points that that you made um the only thing I

38:48 would I would say is sometimes as far as your own

38:54 organization your own employees are concerned small things make a big difference right and and I gave the

39:01 example of um eliminating plastic bottles and and to go containers in the

39:07 cafeteria even though the absolute plastic reduction from that activity is probably not that much you know we we

39:13 probably reduce a lot more by just converting one packaging part to

39:19 non-plastic um but the Optics of doing that um the motivation it brings to our

39:25 employee base um as well as the enthusiasm it it brings is invaluable so

39:31 you have to look at you know small impact but big Optics type of activities

39:39 um as well not only you know what is what is the high volume activity from

39:44 from our point of view as well and I I heard you say beeswax somewhere in in

39:50 there um can you can you speak to what what that is that's very interesting to me yes so uh what we we had a um a

39:59 specialist um company come and join us where they were using beeswax to wrap

40:07 and and and basically secure or protect product yeah so that's you know I guess

40:13 it's it's almost like a natural reuse um uh solution so they joined us on our

40:20 sustainability day and just explain to the uh to the staff to the employees and the attendees to the event how we could

40:27 would utilize beeswax you know in in our lives really um and it's great because

40:33 when you see the ideas and and and promote this you know this engagement

40:39 the impact that it has on the employees or the the people engaging with it as you just touched on it makes a huge

40:45 difference um you know within the culture of the organization and within the thinking of the of the people that

40:50 are engaged with it allbe it that the contribution to the you know to our Global goal or our stewardship of the en

40:57 environment as as you suggest is perhaps negligible yeah and and those those are

41:02 a really interesting really interesting steps I think we linked to that we also

41:08 um you know we must avoid um based on um what the UK requirements are that um

41:13 disposable CL PL plastic Cutlery just doesn't exist as a thing for us anymore you know we we now have various

41:21 different types what we try to do is is is allow people enough um

41:27 uh product available to them in the in the Cen or the rest areas so that we continually rewash you know metallic um

41:35 equivalents so a little bit like the the the metallic coffee cup that each employee will will have we also do the

41:42 same with with the cuty within within the Cen so so they are the small you know the small gains but huge Optics

41:48 that that you touch on just now yeah wonderful so Ben we we're coming um on

41:54 on time uh I I really want to thank you you for joining me uh in this chat today

42:00 and all the valuable insights that you provided not only to me but to our audience uh as well thank you very much

42:06 ben no problem it was a pleasure [Music]