2025 sees Mawdsleys celebrate its 200 year anniversary! A significant milestone. Mawdsleys is a specialist wholesaler and distributor of medicines; employing over 850 people, at 6 strategic distribution centres across the UK. Mawdsleys wholesale and 3PL divisions supply over 1m packs of medicine per day! Through our fleet of over 80 vans and 60 HGV’s we make deliveries to hospitals, pharmacies and wholesalers across the country 6 days per week. Mawdsleys has remained privately owned throughout its history and, as such, has been able to innovate and invest in the business in a very different way to other companies in the sector.
One of these areas of difference is in our approach and strategy in delivering sustainability initiatives, where shareholders, employees and the business are all fully engaged and aligned. Funds are provided to innovate, trial and adopt new technologies with no expectation other than to gain learnings and to keep moving forward to our Net Zero goal.
Timeline of initiatives:-
1990’s – offered all customers free cardboard collection and recycling, which continues today. The delivery van fleet of over 50 vehicles, at the time, ran on LPG for 8 years; as a lower emission alternative to diesel, installing LPG pumps at all sites.
2018 – First installed motion sensor lighting in a warehouse, reducing electricity consumption. First four EV car charge points installed at HO site in Salford. First EV cars added to fleet.
2019 – Began full waste segregation of plastic, metal and cardboard on all sites; reducing use of landfill. Joined ‘Climate Group EV 100’, a global group of likeminded companies who have committed to moving to an EV fleet by 2030 (as technology allows).
2020 – Successful trial of ‘Trailar’ PV panels on roofs on vans (x10) and trailers (x20) to help run the temperature-controlled units. The trial showed a reduced fuel consumption of 7%. Trailar panels later rolled out across the fleet as vehicles were replaced. Implemented a cycle to work scheme with over 50 employees joining the scheme in first 6 months. First site re-fitted with LED lighting in warehouse; reducing electricity consumption by over 80%. Started to switch electricity contracts to purchase electricity from 100% renewable suppliers (full REGO certificates).
2022 – Project to install LED lighting at all sites completed. EV charge points installed at all sites. First introduced driver monitoring software to educate delivery drivers as to how they can driver more efficiency and use less fuel. New company car policy introduced where all new cars added to the fleet must be EV or Hybrid.
2023 – Multi-million £ investment in a project to build a 150,000ft² extension to our main 3PL facility in Doncaster. The extension was specially designed with sustainability in mind; without rooflight panels to reduced power requirements to heat and cool space as a result of heat loss and solar glare. Special tensile steel was used on the frame and for the roof sheets to mount a 1.6MWh PV array (3,500 panels) to work alongside a 2.6MWh battery (housed in a 45ft container) with smart software to store and deploy power as need. This “DC/DC” system is one of largest schemes of its type in the UK. The system will make this 300,000ft² , fully temperature-controlled site, 67%+ self-sufficient on its electricity consumption. In recognition of this innovation the site was opened by Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero RT Hon Ed Miliband. Project to remove 130+ traditional PC’s, from across the business, and replaced with more energy efficient laptops. Trial to reduce fridge temperatures (over 3,000 pallet locations across the estate) by 1-2 degrees to reduced energy consumption. First in sector to trial ‘e-cool’ kinetic HGV trailers; whereby the temperature-controlled unit is powered by electricity from the kinetic energy generated from the axel turning and deployed via a battery system. This removes the need to have a separate diesel engine on the trailer to run the cooling unit, thus removing the associated fuel consumption of 2 litres fuel/hr or ~350 litres pm, which is 8.8 tonnes of CO2e per vehicle pa. Establish an ESG Committee with representatives from across the business.
2024 – Delivery and trial of first 2 fully temperature-controlled delivery vans. Trial of 44T full electric HGV; when towing the ‘e-cool’ trailer fully loaded the vehicle can achieve over 125 miles of range. All new fleet now have ‘Trailer’ PV units installed as part of our standard vehicle/trailer build, reducing fuel consumption.
2025 – Following extensive trial of ‘e-cooler’ trailer, we ordered 4 further units. Following a highly successful trial, a further 2x Electric HGV’s have now been ordered. Awaiting launch of LCV natural gas powered temperature-controlled vehicles, with associated reduced CO2e – looking to start a trial during the year. ESG Committee commenced work on a carbon reduction strategy focusing on buildings and facilities de-carbonisation.
Our activity is not only in the ‘E’ of ESG but also in the Social and Governance elements, which was recognised in January 2024 when our ‘NHS Evergreen Submission’ resulted in Mawdsleys being awarded a ‘Level 2’ certification – Mawdsleys were one of only a handful of NHS suppliers (and the only distributor) to achieve Level 2 in the first year of the scheme. Confirming our leading market position in this space. The NHS Evergreen 80-page Assessment recognises a number of key facts;
– Public committed to net zero by 2050 (level1)
– Sharing of scope 1, 2 and limited scope 3 emissions (level1)
– Set out environment policies (level 1)
– Publicly share expanded scope 3 emissions (level2)
– Publicly share modern slavery statement (level 2)
– Establish a corporate and social value program to support delivery and management of commitments (level 2)
Looking forward Mawdsleys continue to work hard every day to innovate and trial new technologies to assist us on de-carbonising on our journey to Net Zero. Plans include review of estate to install PV arrays and batteries storage systems (BESS) at additional sites. As well as exploring ways in which we can continue to reduce emissions from diesel (which as a distribution business is the largest % of our CO2e we have) used in our delivery fleet. Whilst we wait for vehicle manufactures to be able to provide commercial EV’s that can take both the payloads and complete the significant mileage (150-400 miles pd) that the delivery fleet has to undertake, whilst keeping the compartments fully temperature controlled for the essential distribution of medicines to healthcare settings.
Operating in a highly competitive market, complying to regulations and delivering sustainability projects is, without doubt, a challenging balancing act! But one thing is for sure that Mawdsleys continue to look forward and keeping medicines moving.