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Offering a quick, high-quality and sustainable online printing service for UK businesses is what we’re all about at instantprint. And that covers more than just the paper and energy we use – we take a holistic approach across our entire supply chain, from sourcing the best materials to delivering print to your door.
That’s why it’s essential for us to choose a courier with the same values as us – which is where DPD come in. The majority of our orders are delivered by DPD. Not only does this provide the flexibility of leaving your print with a neighbour or in a safe space, a notification of your delivery slot and an option to track your order, but it also means that your print delivery has never been greener.
Here are just some of the ways we’re working with DPD to offer our gold-standard of quick high-quality print, delivered on time and in pristine condition, that’s not at the expense of the environment.
Electric Vehicles
As part of their green agenda, DPD is adopting a fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) at an ‘electrifying’ rate. As of today, their UK electric delivery fleet consists of over 1,700 vehicles, with a further 1,500 ordered for this year. And by 2023, they’re set to have 5,00 EVs – working out at 40% of their entire fleet.
In 2021, DPD delivered 24,162 parcels to instantprint customers on all-electric vehicles.
And this year so far, they’ve already surpassed this figure, delivering 28,027 of our customers’ parcels using EVs, saving over 14,000kg of CO2 – that’s equivalent to planting 56 trees!
On top of this, DPD even give their drivers handheld units which find the shortest possible route between every address, ensuring their parcels are delivered more efficiently and less CO2 is generated.
Electric Urban Depots
As of today, there are 10 UK cities benefitting from all-electric depots, with DPD aiming for 30 electric hubs by the end of 2023. These micro-depots are smaller warehouses based in busy cities and urban areas, ensuring that delivery vans travel less and therefore use less CO2.
Oxford became DPD’s first ‘green’ city in July 2021, with a fleet of 40 electric vehicles delivering 15,000 parcels a week across the city.
The nine additional UK locations that have achieved the same all-electric delivery status as of 2022 are Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Hull, Newcastle, Nottingham, Reading, Southampton and Stoke.
Their all-electric fleet delivered 17 million parcels in 2021.
As previously mentioned, DPD send a notification letting you know your one-hour delivery slot so you can be ready to receive your parcel. Now, they even send you a green notification letting you know if your parcel is being delivered using an electric vehicle!
When you receive a delivery from DPD via one of their all-electric delivery vehicles they'll keep count and when you reach 10 green deliveries, they will plant a tree on your behalf!
Net Zero Target
At instantprint currently working towards and committed to achieving carbon net zero status by 2035. We’ve already taken the first step towards this ambitious target by achieving carbon neutral certification for 2020-2021, and promise to work towards achieving the same result each year after.
We work with Achilles Carbon Reduce, the UK’s only accredited GHG (Greenhouse Gas) Certification Scheme to measure our carbon footprint. They then get back to us with a report on ways we can keep reducing our carbon footprint and help us towards our goal of becoming carbon net zero by 2035.
DPD are working towards the target of being carbon net zero by 2030, and have already taken a number of actions towards reaching this goal. They’ve worked out that they’ll need 95%+ of their fleet to consist of all-electric delivery vans, and make a switch to hydrogen cell linehaul vehicles. On top of that, they’re aiming for 100% renewable energy usage.
Sustainability in the Community
As well as mitigating their environmental impact, DPD are also working to build sustainable communities where everyone’s needs are met. As part of their Project ReLove, DPD App users who are expecting a delivery can select the option of donating old clothing, which DPD then collect at the point of delivery.
The app user can choose from a number of charities (or have one selected at random) that their donation will support. Once collected, the donated items head back to the DPD depot, where they’re labelled for onward delivery to the selected charity for them to sell at their shops.
Discover a Greener Way to Print Online
From reducing our carbon footprint to managing waste responsible and sourcing the greenest printing stocks, ordering exceptional print for your business doesn’t have to come at a cost to the environment. Discover everything we’re doing to reach our carbon net zero goals, or start printing your business essentials today!
