McDonald’s intends to Go Green
With more and more companies making their supply chain operations more sustainable, McDonald’s is the latest organisation to jump on the bandwagon and announce its new sustainability plans. On Tuesday, the American fast food chain revealed its initial targets consist of reducing its carbon footprint. Their ambitious goal is to decrease their greenhouse gas output by over a third by 2030 by working closely with franchisees and suppliers. The Science Based Target Initiative, which helps companies set objectives supporting the Paris Agreement on climate change, has approved their plan.
McDonald’s believes it can meet the targets while continuing to grow by making some alterations to their current activities. These actions include promoting and using renewable energy efficiently by using LED lighting in franchise outlets and more energy efficient kitchen equipment. Furthermore, McDonald’s will source food more responsibly and make their beef production more sustainable. Packaging is also a big part of the plan; the fast food chain plans to increase the amount of recycling with more sustainable and recyclable packaging and recycling facilities available at restaurants so that less waste is created.
To read more about this sustainability plan, click here.
Another week, Another Walmart update
On Tuesday at the ShopTalk conference in Las Vegas, Walmart announced its partnership with courier delivery services company FedEx in a bid to compete against Amazon. Their arrangement involves placing small FedEx stores in 500 Walmart locations in the U.S. within two years. This service is an expansion of a successful pilot program initially tested in around 50 Walmart stores which offer printing, packing and shipping services to customers. The FedEx stores only take up 450 to 750 square fee in Walmart stores and will be staffed by approximately 2000 employees from the delivery courier company.
Shoppers can also use the FedEx stores to redirect packages and process returns. In addition, this new service provides more convenience to consumers as they have up to 5 business days to collect their parcels and it can reduce the risk of package theft. Shoppers will not be the only ones reaping the benefits of this service; Walmart will most likely see an increase in foot traffic to the store with customers shopping after visiting FedEx. Furthermore, logistics challenges would be reduced as a result of this partnership.
More information can be found here.
Truck Technology to expand thanks to funding
This week, fleet management and electronic logging device company KeepTruckin revealed it raised $50 million in funds. The San Francisco-based company plans on using the funds to develop more products, expand its sales and staff and create a freight marketplace.
Demand for KeepTruckin’s products and services has seen an increase in recent months as trucking companies look to comply with a mandate passed in December which aims to reduce fatigue at the wheel, and in turn accidents. A new feature that may come as a result of the new funding is a video monitoring tool that provides drivers with feedback on how they are driving. An estimated 400,000 trucks will be using Keep Truckin’s tools by the end of the year, according to the company.
To find out more about this, click here.
Have a great weekend!
Header photo: Toria/shutterstock.com
