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A word from

Our CEO

Our All-Electric Fleet
Our All-Electric Fleet
We're building

the largest

all-electric delivery fleet in the UK, in double quick time.

In 2019 we had 139 electric vehicles on the road; this is rising to 600 in 2020 - that’s 10% of our fleet that will be delivering 'clean', emission free on the streets of our cities.

Our All-Electric Fleet
Why not
100% electric now?

DPD has ambitious plans to rapidly increase its electric vehicle fleet, but we can’t do it alone: we need manufacturers, the utilities industry, and Government (both local and national) to work together to help fast-track the introduction of all-electric fleet vehicles and their charging points.

The 3.5t electric vans we want to use are just not available, which is why we’ve invested heavily in the smaller Nissan electric vans - but it’s not a long-term solution as we all want fewer vehicles on the road, not more.

DPD is experiencing challenges, with vehicle manufacturers preferring to produce left-hand drive all–electric vehicles to cater for larger European markets. The UK and Ireland are among the few European countries to use right-hand drive vehicles, and data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association shows that in 2015 the UK and Ireland accounted for 14% of registered vans on the road. This fact clearly shows the potential market size for right-hand vehicles, and we call on manufacturers to make more right-hand vehicles; join our campaign voice at #needmoreelectric

This is where you can make a difference...
Join the cause
Our All-Electric Fleet
Our fleet

DPD has a carefully selected wide range of electric vehicles, from cargo bikes to 7.5t vehicles. Each vehicle type has a special role to perform; click on each one to see its full story.

EAV P1
Vehicles: 5 | Deliveries per week: 1,875
Read more
Paxster
Vehicles: 26 | Deliveries per week: 9,000
Read more
Nissan e-NV
Vehicles: 117 | Deliveries per week: 46,800
Read more
Peugeot ePartner
Vehicles: 5 | Deliveries per week: 2,000
Read more
Mercedes eVito
Vehicles: 10 | Deliveries per week: 6,000
Read more
Mitsubishi FUSO eCanter
Vehicles: 2 | Deliveries per week: 200
Read more
Our All-Electric Fleet
What we're doing to

charge up

We’re looking at managing our electricity so we don’t place more demand on the grid as we deploy our electric fleet. By lowering our consumption of electricity in other areas, we can ensure we have capacity to charge vehicles on our own sites.

Our All-Electric Fleet

Home charge

With 10% of DPD's fleet all-electric by the end of 2020, our drivers clearly need an affordable and user-friendly electric vehicle charging point installed at their homes. DPD has partnered with Rolec, an electric vehicle charging supplier, to ensure our drivers get access to an easy, fast and affordable solution.

With Rolec, our drivers simply request a home charger to be installed, and their Level 1 nationwide suppliers respond.

DPD also helps drivers to complete the government paperwork to ensure they receive a £500 grant towards set-up. DPD contributes a further £250 towards the drivers’ home charger's meaning the installation cost for them can be as little as £100.

This simple process and financial support help to encourage wider electric vehicle deployment by making switching to an electric vehicle as simple as possible for our drivers.

Our All-Electric Fleet
Did you

know?

42% of the UK population

don’t believe you can put an electric car through a car wash

src: www.goultralow.com

One in five drivers

believe electric cars might not be safe in a crash

src: www.thisismoney.co.uk

Smart urban delivery
Smart Urban Delivery
Smart Urban Delivery
Changing the

urban landscape

DPD wants to deliver emission free in cities, so we’re creating a network of all-electric micro-depots so that our all-electric vehicles are located closer to our customers. Shoppers will also get their next-day delivery in a cleaner, quieter and more sustainable way.

Smart Urban Delivery
Why not more

micro-depots

in our cities?

The type of properties we need for micro-depots are hard to get in our city centres because of the high demand for the land or buildings for both business and residential use.

To help us create an all-electric micro-depot network we need stakeholders and property companies to give us access to new city centre locations.

Some people say why not take delivery depots out of the city, but that isn’t the answer as it just means vehicles have to drive longer distances and we have to use more of them, so there would be more vehicles on the road. What we want is fewer vehicles with more parcels on board, and a micro-delivery depot network is the best way to facilitate this.

Smart Urban Delivery
Our

micro-depot plan

We have three all-electric micro-depots and plans to open seven as soon as the sites become available. We’ll look at underground car parks or any other site property owners and occupiers can offer; we are really thinking out of the box to find answers to clean, green urban delivery.

Of course, it’s not just about London; we want to work closely with local authorities up and down the country to develop a network of city centre final mile micro-depots.

View our plan here
This is where you can make a difference...

Join the cause
Smart Urban Delivery
Introducing

Westminster

urban depot

2018 saw the opening of DPD Westminster, an all-electric micro-depot that not only makes final mile outbound deliveries using all–electric vehicles, but also takes inbound parcels from our London City depot on all-electric Fuso eCanter 7.5t vehicles.

DPD Westminster was the first of our series of micro-depots in London and is part of a larger plan to expand the micro-depot model across the capital and the rest of the UK.

Watch the opening of our first all-electric depot in Westminster. It was a real game-changer, with both the deliveries in and out of the depot being made by all-electric vehicles.

WATCH THE DEPOT OPENING FILM HERE

DPD FACT: We deliver to Her Majesty the Queen and the Prime Minister on all-electric vehicles!

Smart Urban Delivery

Shoreditch depot

DPD Shoreditch opened its doors in converted railways arches in October 2018. The 6,000ft2 depot makes final mile deliveries on its all-electric fleet into EC postcodes, allowing DPD to access high levels of delivery density with short mileages.

The Shoreditch depot is a great example of DPD repurposing under-utilised and under-occupied space for intelligent final mile operations that enable large scale electric vehicle deployment. DPD secured the site on a 12 year lease, showing its commitment to developing the micro-distribution strategy.

In Peak 2019 (November to December), the depot reached its highest ever delivery volume, delivering 3,700 parcels in one day from the small but well located sites, and the depot management team celebrated this milestone, as shown in the picture here.

Smart Urban Delivery

Hyde Park

depot

DPD secured planning permission from Westminster City Council in July 2019 to open a final mile micro-distribution depot operating from 8,000ft2 in the Q-Park car park located on Park Lane.

The depot extends DPD’s all-electric London proposition to three sites, with Hyde Park, working to service key delivery areas around Oxford Street.

The site is due to open in April 2020 following a complex and arduous legal process involving Westminster City Council and the Department for Transport (DfT).

The site is a great example of innovative thinking around property types and uses by DPD to show how repurposing under-utilised and unoccupied buildings can deliver zero-emission benefits for the residents of London.

Smart Urban Delivery
Driving

fewer miles

We send a quarter of a billion Predict one hour delivery notifications each year to let customers know when to expect us, which has stopped 4.5 million extra journeys; that’s 3.5 million fewer miles travelled and 1,255 tonnes of CO2 not being needlessly generated.

What's more, with the DPD app we offer customers a range of in-flight options, so if they can't be there to receive their parcel, they have a choice of options to make sure they still get their parcel, and DPD doesn't have to make another journey.

In fact, in Christmas 2019, in one week alone we had 747,000 in-flight changes - that's a lot of return journeys avoided.

Tell me more about the dpd app
green-email-website
Smart Urban Delivery
We'll tell our customers

when we're coming

We’ll send a green notification when we deliver using an electric vehicle, showcasing we’ve delivered in the cleanest way possible. By the end of 2020 there will be a massive 4-million parcels delivered in this way.

Smart Urban Delivery
Innovation

delivering

We love innovation, especially where it makes sense environmentally. Our drivers’ handheld units guide them to every address using the shortest possible route.

This technology does not come cheap, but having the latest technology means our drivers are super-efficient on their routes, and that means travelling fewer miles and generating less CO2.

This year we've travelled 649,000 fewer miles with our new cutting-edge route-control software.

In fact, we've reduced CO2 emissions by over 200 tonnes, the equivalent to planting 800 trees.

Smart Urban Delivery
More right first time

deliveries

The stats don’t lie: we are delivering right first time 99.8% of the time, which means fewer return journeys and fewer miles travelled.

It's this great level of service that has led to DPD topping the Money Saving Expert poll for seven years running and being voted the UK's favourite parcel delivery company.

Smart Urban Delivery
Did you

know?

95 tonnes of CO2

are saved per year by our micro-depot urban strategy

Green packaging
Our green packaging
Our Green Packaging
Our green

packaging

We provide 36 million plastic packages a year to protect our customers’ goods and we want to do something about this, which is why we’re working with our customers to reduce the number of bags used. We have also made a major change to the bags themselves, which are now made from 80% reclaimed material and are 100% recyclable.

Here’s the story: We set out in 2018 to develop a 100% recyclable bag, working with a specialist provider, Povoas, to create a bag secure enough to protect our customers’ goods in transit. Povoas were keen to work with us to find the ideal solution. Unfortunately, the original material used, when put to the test, was far too thin to carry our customers’ goods securely. Povoas eventually found the right solution, a bag made from 80% reclaimed material, whilst being 100% recyclable made from waste from the agricultural industry, that would otherwise find its way to landfill, an extra benefit.

Why not made from 100% reclaimed material?
We would love nothing more than to use bags that are 100% reclaimed material, but if we do, the bags become so transparent and flimsy they are not fit for purpose.

Our Green Packaging
We're removing
single-use plastics

We’re giving all our 15,000 people everlasting metal water bottles this year, so they will never need to buy water in a plastic bottle again. We’ve also installed water stations at all our sites, so the bottles can easily be refilled. And our Hub vending machines, which dispense 100,000 plastic bottles of water a year, will now only provide cans. We estimate, based on our people filling up on average twice a day over five days, that 3.75 million plastic bottles of water will no longer be needed.

We’re also promoting Refill, an innovative app that shows where our people can get a refill when they’re out and about delivering.

Download the refill app here

Our canteens no longer use plastic cutlery and drinking cups, and we are working with our supply chain to establish other key plastic free items. As we said earlier, we will remove all single use plastic from our entire operation.

Would you like to own one of these lovely green bottles and ditch plastic?
Send us your green idea, and to the provider of the best idea each month, we'll send one of our lovely green bottles.


Our Green Packaging
We're also recycling

shrink wrap

in our operation

In 2019 DPD recycled 150 tonnes of shrink wrap from its operation, through a great new initiative. All shrink wrap used in our operation is now bailed at our central hub and then reprocessed into raw plastic material. This is then sold and the money generated goes into the DPD Eco fund to support green initiatives throughout the UK.

Our Green Packaging
Did you

know?

There are 350 million tonnes of plastic used around the world annually. It’s important we all work to keep this out of landfill and our oceans; only by recycling can we aim to achieve this.

Only one in 200 plastic bags are currently recycled, which has to change.

src: www.statista.com

Waste management
Waste Management
Waste management
Reducing our

footprint

We hate waste and make sure what little we have is disposed of responsibly, which is why 100% of our waste avoids landfill.

Watch our film to see how we avoid landfill. VIEW FILM

Waste management
Did you

know?

Our hubs collected and recycled over 300 tonnes of plastic in 2019 that was turned into raw materials.

Energy management
Energy Management
Energy management
Sustainable with

solar power

When it comes to electricity we want to do our bit, so we spend more to make sure our electricity comes from a sustainable source. We only buy our electricity from renewable sources.

Our Oldbury and Hinckley hubs run fully on solar power during the day. In fact we can show you what we’ve generated at our sites on our chart here...

Last year we generated enough electricity to power 336 houses for a year from one of our hub sites.

We have installed LED lighting in our network, reducing electricity by a whopping 61% as the lights are on less and use less electricity when they are. All our new-builds have LED lighting too.

We’ve got tight control of our gas supply, and since we installed the equivalent of a smart meter throughout our whole network we've significantly reduced our gas consumption.

View OUR CHART
Energy management
DPD powered by

100% renewable energy

DPD operates from 73 locations across the UK and four national hubs. We have in excess of 3.8 million square feet of operational workspace and consume around 28 gigawatts of electricity annually.

From October 2020, DPD has contracted with its suppliers for all 28 gigawatts we use per year to come from fully renewable sources.

Circular economy
Circular Economy
Circular Economy

Our motto is reuse,
reduce, recycle

We are working with our customer ASOS to trial a groundbreaking new service for its customers, whereby all clothing that's had its day can find a new home and be reloved - and we've got a carbon-free way to do it

The service is called Re Love and will raise cash for five national charities who are all keen to work with us and make this a new way to breathe life into pre-loved clothing.

Circular Economy

ReLove

Using the DPD app, during the trial, ASOS customers will be able to arrange a collection for their pre-loved clothing at the same time as a delivery is being made, and choose one of the five charities they want to send their clothing to

Clothing is bagged up, reusing the previous packaging so we can keep it green. We don’t even need a label, and our driver will collect the bags when they arrive with the delivery.

We’ll take the clothing to the chosen charity and get pre-loved clothing to its new home in the greenest way possible

This trailblazing project will be trialled in April with ASOS customers and we'll report back here with the results in June. Watch this space.

DPD eco fund
DPD Eco Fund
DPD Eco Fund
About our Eco Fund

The shrink wrap we use in our operation can be recycled and turned into raw material and made into a range of different products. DPD also recycles all its used electronic products, and any money generated from both these initiatives goes straight into our Eco Fund.

Anyone can apply for funding from the DPD Eco Fund, although we particularly encourage schools and educational facilities across the UK working on green projects with their students and start-up companies working on developing environmentally friendly products to apply.

The Eco Fund for 2020 has, £140,000 to allocate to worthy sustainable projects, with typical funding per project being approximately £1,500

Apply here if you have a green programme that needs funding.

Take a look at all five of the green projects we’ve already supported throughout the UK.

DPD Eco Fund
DPD &

Hempstalls Primary School

Hempstalls Primary School received £1,000 from the DPD Eco Fund and has bought all the school council 'eco warriors' hi-vis jackets, recycling bins for inside and outside, and badges to recognise the great work of the school's eco warriors! Way to go, Hempstalls!

DPD Eco Fund
DPD &

Hinckley Academy and John Cleveland Sixth Form Centre

Hinckley Academy received £1,000 requested by the student council to purchase seven recycling bins for the school canteen area. The bins in the canteen area allowed pupils to segregate waste, reducing the amount of waste going to landfill! Keep up the green work Hinckley Academy.

DPD Eco Fund
DPD &

Pitmaston Primary School

Pitmaston Primary School has received £1,700 funding to redevelop its forest school facility and plant hedgerows creating an environment for wildlife to thrive.

Making the world a greener place, Pitmaston; keep up the great work!

DPD Eco Fund
DPD &

Leintwardine Primary School

Leintwardine Primary School used £1,500 from the DPD Eco Fund to supply the timber to build the school's new vegetable garden planters. The school has been renovating an outside area for pupils, where they can work together to grow vegetables.

Fabulous initiative Leintwardine; here's to a great growing season!

DPD Eco Fund
DPD supports

ORCA

DPD is totally supportive of the important work that has been undertaken by ORCA, a charity dedicated to studying and protecting whales , dolphins and porpoises in UK and European waters.

DPD was keen to help in any way it could, and since ORCA’s research relies on mobilising volunteers who need access to scientific equipment, we found a way to be of service. We ensure that wherever the volunteer is based, we will get the survey equipment delivered safely to them so that the kit is in the right place at the right time.

We’ve been supporting ORCA for three years now, in which time they have regularly published their findings and what they mean to these wonderful animals that make the sea their home.

ORCA’s critical research details the threats to our marine life and what we need to do to protect this special environment for both them and us; you can find their latest report here.

View report Thought leadership
Thought Leadership
Thought Leadership

Our 1, 2, 3, 4 strategy

Our 1, 2, 3 strategy has served us well for the last decade with our focus on having the best technology, the best people and delivering the best service to our customers. Watch our film 'four little numbers' to get an insight into an essential fourth element to our strategy that will see us become the UK's leader in sustainable delivery. #Sustainability #YourDeliveryExperts

Thought Leadership
Delivering a

zero-emission future

DPD has produced a thought leadership paper, ‘Delivering a Zero Emission Future’, to challenge today’s leaders to help facilitate fast EV fleet deployment and also share with the public the challenges we face.

Download

Thought Leadership
Working with our customers towards a

brighter future

We’re working with our major customers to let them know how many of their parcels have been delivered by our all-electric vehicles. We believe that through communication and increased awareness we will be able to drive the demand for all-electric delivery.

Here’s an example of how we are building awareness with our customer ASOS. This quarterly statement clearly shows the impact that ASOS is having on our environment by choosing DPD for its parcel delivery.

Download

DPD customer? You can request your statement from your account manager.

Thought Leadership
Our 2020

objectives

Download a copy of our top 10 CSR objectives for 2020 below:

Download

Thought Leadership
A Group-wide approach to

Carbon offsetting

since 2012

DPD UK is part of DPDgroup, fully owned by La Poste, and is one of Europe’s leading express delivery companies. DPD has been offsetting its carbon footprint since 2012, at no extra cost to its customers.

Offsetting starts with measuring your CO2 emissions, with that amount of C02 (your carbon footprint) offset by funding projects that reduce carbon emissions by the same amount.

DPDgroup offsets 100% of its transport and energy consumption, nearly 1,000,000 tonnes of CO2, making DPDgroup the number 1 for voluntary carbon offset in the express parcels market.

DPDgroup has also committed to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to combat climate action.

Our CO2 offsetting is externally audited and verified through our partner, CO2 logic.

Offsetting is done at no extra cost to our customers, and we are fully committed to reducing our overall emissions. For the full story on our Group and its commitment to the environment, find out more here:

FIND OUT MORE
Thought Leadership
Our offsetting project

in the UK

In the UK we've initiated an innovative project in the north of England where we capture methane from a disused coal mine that is then used to generate electricity for 7,000 homes in the area. This project has saved 100,000 tonnes of C02 being released into the environment, with an investment from DPDgroup of £200,000.

News & Awards
News & Awards
News & Awards

News

DPD boosts electric fleet to 600 with UK's first MAN 3.5t electric vans - February 2020

View

DPD takes delivery of 300 e-NV vans to create UK's largest electric vehicle delivery fleet - January 2020

View

Friendly Planet | Case Study - December 19

View

EAV Cargo | Case Study - December 19

View

Zero Emission FUSO eCanter | Bevan Group - November 19

View

Delivering A Zero Emission future | The Times - November 19

View
News & Awards

Awards

DPD is delighted to be recognised for its green efforts and has already been presented with the following awards:

DPD wins Sustainability Leaders edie award 2020.
DPD was the only parcel company amongst the 180 finalists with judges commending our innovative micro-depots in London and how we have reduced our emissions and helped shape the wider debate around sustainable urban deliveries.

DPD wins Green Apple award for Environmental Best Practice in 2019.
DPD received 'Gold winner' status, with judges hailing our achievements in reducing CO DPD received 'Gold winner' status, with judges hailing our achievements in reducing CO

DPD receives a Fleet Heroes award from the Energy Saving Trust.
DPD received this award for our innovative approach to zero-emission deliveries via our Westminster and Shoreditch micro-depots, as well as our nationwide rollout of electric vehicles.

DPD UK certified as Carbon Trust Standard.
The Carbon Trust Standard recognises organisations that follow best practice in measuring, managing and reducing their environmental impact.

DPD has been certified for The Carbon Trust Standard for Carbon, which is a mark of excellence that enables organisations to demonstrate their success in cutting their carbon footprint.

DPD was also recognised by The Carbon Trust Standard for Waste after demonstrating a real reduction in waste streams year-on-year, or that waste is being dealt with more effectively, for example through increased recovery, recycling or reuse.