Our major use of energy is in heating, lighting and powered conveying equipment, and in our vehicle fleet. Consolidation of both office and warehouse operations has led to a reduction in Energy usage as a proportion of sales. In particular our gas consumption as a proportion of sales has come down significantly over the last five years. This is due to a number of initiatives:

• At our main warehouses we compartmentalised the buildings and installed automatically closing rapid rise doors to keep in heat.
• Temperature controls are operated at each major warehouse.
• Thermal clothing (sweatshirts and fleeces) has been issued to warehouse staff as part of the Company dress code.
• Old boiler systems have been replaced by Energy efficient space heaters.

Electricity consumption as a percentage of sales has also fallen over the last five years. A comprehensive assessment of Energy Saving opportunities has been undertaken by the Carbon Trust. The result was a number of practical energy saving opportunities which are being implemented at Operating Company level including installation of lighting controls and removal of surplus lighting, replacing existing Compressors with High Energy Efficiency Models, and optimisation of the Compressed Air Systems for the conveyoring equipment. The proportion of our electricity usage acquired from renewable sources is 62% higher than the UK average.

The majority of our vehicle fleet now runs on Euro 4 compliant diesel engines and our policy is to specify diesel engines for replacement vehicles. Our vehicle fleet’s CO2 emissions are calculated and measured monthly and average emissions per km driven have fallen by 3% over the last two years.

We have invested in systems to enable an increasing proportion of our larger products to be sent directly from our suppliers to our customers significantly reducing the transportation and handling involved.

In May 2009 we opened the new 55,000 sq foot Head Office for our Education division. This building was designed with environmental impacts in mind. It makes extensive use of glass to its North elevation, maximising natural light but minimising the need for air conditioning. A high efficiency Heating and Cooling system has been installed. Energy saving lighting controls are used which are a mixture of Presence Detection Lighting and Daylight Switching. Each of the sub contractors were required to demonstrate their Environmental credentials prior to appointment. As a result of these initiatives the building has been awarded a "B" Energy Performance rating, which is higher than the average for comparative new build properties.

Whilst the demand for our paper catalogues continues to be high, we have over the last five years reduced the weight of the paper used by 6% and ensure that all paper is sourced from suppliers who have ISO 14001 (Environmental Management Standard) accreditation and are FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) approved. In addition we have continued to develop our internet presence, with the percentage of orders placed on the internet growing each year.

We are constantly seeking to be innovative in minimising the level of packaging commensurate with ensuring that products arrive with our customers undamaged. Our Home Shopping division pioneered the “Bag in a Box” system to minimise the need for filling material in larger packages, whilst an investment in our business systems allows us to dynamically assess the contents of a parcel and eliminate the use of boxes completely for a proportion of our smaller parcels, using instead bags made from recycled paper. As well as being environmentally sound this has also resulted in a reduction in Packaging Spend as a percentage of Turnover.

All of our major Warehouses focus on Waste Management and Recycling, with clearly defined Recycling centres for Paper, Wood, Cardboard, Plastics and Scrap Metal. Waste reduction and re-cycling initiatives have been rolled out across the group with increasing success and purchased packaging has been reduced as measured against turnover.

We are developing reporting procedures at each site to disclose the amount of waste which goes to landfill compared to waste which is recycled. In sites where this reporting has already been adopted we have seen significant falls in the percentage of waste going to landfill.