Growing Your Business

This month we’ve been championing a greener dental industry – and that includes our own efforts to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable. In our latest blog we take a closer look at how DD is investing in becoming a greener retailer.

A commitment to reducing DD’s carbon footprint

We’ve signed up to The Planet Mark – a certification programme that recognises a business’ commitment to continuous improvement in sustainability and improving environmental and social performance.

Around the world Planet Mark certified businesses make, on average, a 14 per cent carbon saving each year for each employee through reduced energy use and optimised processes around waste, water, travel and procurement.

Holders of The Planet Mark Business Certification are required to measure and reduce their annual carbon emissions associated with business operations. Each year the new carbon footprint becomes the next year’s baseline – driving continuous improvement.

The Green Group

At the heart of our efforts to be more sustainable is our Green Group - a team selected from across the business to make a positive change in every area of the business.

And the Green Group doesn’t just focus on transforming DD, it’s also committed to helping our local community in Essex.

One community initiative we’ve rolled our sleeves up and got involved in is The Witham Wombles who are a group of local residents who volunteer their spare time to keeping the town clean, tidy and litter free.

Miles of cardboard recycled each year

Our warehouse is constant hub of activity that runs at an impressively fast pace. We house more than 27,000 products, an on-site pharmacy and 110,00 square feet of storage and conveyor-belt processing.

Each day we process hundreds of orders for our customers while also receiving stock from suppliers.

And that means a lot of cardboard is recycled by us.

Working in partnership with a local recycling firm in Essex we’ve been able to keep our carbon imprint low and recycle around 80,000 cardboard boxes a year.

Innovative packaging and banishing waste

We’ve overhauled how we package up our cool chain products to eliminate the use of plastics.

Now items such as facial aesthetics which need to arrive to practice at a specific temperature, utilise compostable materials such as wool and hydra-packs to ensure the products arrive insulated and safe, while also being sustainable and recyclable.  

And we’re not stopping there.

To reduce packaging waste further we’re currently exploring innovative technology which will transform how all our parcels arrive to our customers.

We’re also growing our stock of greener products.

Our steps to grow greener don’t end there…

As a responsible retailer we’re committed to taking all steps we can to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Across the business we’re exploring how we can be greener, reduce waste and energy consumption and positively contribute to decreasing our carbon footprint.

It’s something that’s incredibly important to us as a business and to our customers too.