On 16 June this year, Fost Plus received the Lean and Green Award for its five-year plan, which aims to reduce the CO2 emissions of the logistics activities it coordinates and supports by 20% by the year 2020.
The Lean and Green Award is presented by the Vlaams Instituut voor de Logistiek/Flemish Logistics Institute (VIL) to companies that take concrete steps to reduce the environmental footprint of their transport and logistics activities. Seventy-four companies in Belgium can now pride themselves on having won this major environmental award.
To obtain this recognition, Fost Plus drew up a detailed action plan based largely on the close cooperation it has established with its operating partners (intermunicipalities and garbage collection companies), since it is through these players that many of the planned actions will be undertaken.The actions focused on four main axes:
- Optimisation of collection methods: optimisation of collection routes, skip fill levels and collection frequencies.
- Eco-friendly driving and technological progress: incentive to modernise fleets of lorries on the roads (engine that meets the most stringent environmental standards, use of alternative fuel, etc.) and support for eco-friendly driving courses for drivers.
- Night collection and alternative transport: where justified, promoting collection in the evening and at night; feasibility study on increased use of transport by train and by water.
- Communicating, inspiring, educating: increasing awareness among all partners of the importance of a sustainable approach to collection and transport, at the same time showing them how they can contribute to this and spread best practices.
Fost Plus is also planning to develop a website on which the operating partners would be able to calculate their CO2 emissions per round, per fraction collected or per type of lorry.