To be built in partnership with Air Liquide, the new station – a first for the company – will be located at John Lewis’ head office in Bracknell, Berkshire.
Expected to open in December 2020, it will facilitate the conversion of the Bracknell Waitrose fleet to biomethane and complement gas filling stations already in use near to John Lewis and Waitrose regional distribution centres in Leyland, Lancashire and in Northampton.
Serving approximately 120 Waitrose heavy goods trucks, the vehicles will run on biomethane made from food waste and food processing waste materials rather than diesel.
John Lewis said this will reduce CO2 emissions by 80%, with each truck saving over 100 tonnes of CO2 every year.
These gas trucks are also quieter, decreasing noise pollution, which is especially important for urban deliveries.
Over the next seven years, the Bracknell site alone will save over 70,000 tonnes of CO2, equivalent to the carbon footprint produced by over 13,000 UK households.
Justin Laney, Partner & General Manager of Central Transport at the John Lewis Partnership, said, “The evidence of climate change is all around us, so it’s important we act now using available technology rather than wait for unproven solutions to appear.”
“We are working hard towards our new aim of removing all fossil fuel from our transport fleet by 2030, which will reduce our carbon emissions by over half a million tonnes and gets us well on the way to our ultimate target of operating a net zero carbon emission fleet.”
In addition to reducing transport carbon emissions, the Partnership is also reducing the carbon emissions produced by its shops, with refrigeration units used in Waitrose being replaced.
Hydro Fluoro Carbon (HFC) – the greenhouse gases used in cooling systems – are currently being switched to HFC-free refrigerators and this will be completed by 2028.
Source: Air Liquide