ISS, 3663 win Green Business Award for Partnership

The award citation said the two firms showed how an innovative and open approach to working together had made a significant difference to reducing carbon emissions, improving efficiency and cutting costs. Simon Cox, COO, ISS UK said, "Good business can be great for business. We listened to our customers in the NHS and then worked completely openly with 3663 to re-engineer our foodservice procurement and logistics to be better all round. For me, the most pleasing outcome is that we have further improved patient meals and the service that we provide to the Trusts." Tony Ball, Director of Sales, 3663 said, "Both companies agree that the advantage of this simple and effective model is that it can be easily extended and replicated to involve other suppliers and mirrored across additional customer groups from a range of sectors. Quite simply, this model makes good business sense." ISS Facility Services Healthcare's 14,500 employees serve more than 50 healthcare trusts, while 3663 is one of the UK's leading foodservice distributors. The companies worked closely to rationalise ISS's foodservice logistics requirements as vehicle use accounts for the majority of the company's carbon emissions. Detailed analysis and planning saw suppliers reduced from 51 to 23 and ultimately delivered 84% fewer deliveries – or 33,147 fewer deliveries each year. This reduced vehicle movements by 134,000 kilometres annually, cutting carbon emissions by an estimated 96 tonnes. ISS also joined 3663's cooking oil recycling scheme, generating 141,000 litres of biodiesel, which the majority of the 3663 fleet runs on. Innovation was also applied to procurement and e-ordering, reducing paper usage at ISS by 80%. Better data collection has improved the nutritional data available to ISS catering staff for planning patient meals as well. Success for 3663 continued in the awards with recognition for its partnership with Elior, which was highly commended in the Award for Partnership category. The company was also highly commended for the overall Green Business of the Year Award as well as the Transport Award. The Green Business Awards celebrate excellence in green practice, strategy and products. They seek out and scrutinise the most innovative, ambitious and effective initiatives by UK business for achieving environmental sustainability, and implementing smart business practice. They claim to be the UK's most comprehensive awards on the subject.