Joint purchases of office supplies for SDU’s central warehouse have considerably reduced Lyreco orders
An internal optimisation of the logistics involved in ordering office supplies has contributed to SDU significantly reducing the amount of small orders to Lyreco. The initiative has resulted in a smaller CO2 footprint by means of fewer journeys and less packaging, and the initiative is set to continue.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, the University of Southern Denmark sent many small orders to Lyreco, which delivers office supplies. This resulted in many deliveries, a lot of transport and a lot of packaging – and thus also a large climate footprint.
A systematic initiative has led to office supplies now being gathered together in one common central warehouse, likewise the stocking of certain pens, notepads and other items required for daily work tasks that are regularly ordered by SDU.
In this way, the orders are uniform, combined and only issued when they have reached a certain size.
The overall initiative has meant that the number of small orders of under DKK 250 to Lyreco has been reduced by over 30%. The total number of invoices has almost halved from 2059 in 2018 to 1248 last year. An estimated prediction of 2023’s orders points to a further reduction in the number of orders.
Work is currently underway on the introduction of shared facilities for office supplies in a pilot project in Central Administration, which may further contribute to optimised logistics and fewer small orders from central warehouses.
On 6 November, a conference will be held at SDU lasting an hour and a half, where the topic is "How can SDU buy more second-hand and emit less CO2?". Read more and register directly here.