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HarperCollins UK is trialling the use of trains to deliver books and reduce its environmental impact.
The initial print run of Joe Wicks’ Feel Good Food (HQ) was the first title to be delivered this way in January. It left the printers in Italy by train before crossing from Rotterdam to the North Yorkshire port of Teesport by ship, then taking to the road for the final 193 miles to HarperCollins’s distribution centre in Bishopbriggs.
The books took up two containers on a goods train and will be followed by a further run which will be sent in five containers via a similar route in late February.
HarperCollins said it would also be sending an average of one full container of educational material from Italy every two weeks from mid-January. Following a successful trial, it intends to use this method to transport the majority of its books from the region.
The publisher says this method of transport will help it reduce its emissions because each container, which carries up to 46 pallets of books, will save two tons of carbon over those sent using solely road transport. Davina McCall’s Menopausing (HQ) will be one of the next big books to be transported this way.
Charlotte Veaney, HarperCollins group production director, said: “Having become carbon neutral in scopes one (direct) and two (indirect) at the end of 2021, our mission now is to further reduce our emissions across all scopes. The transportation of goods is one of the biggest factors in reducing our scope three emissions and we’re delighted to have started with Joe’s new book, Feel Good Food. The system has proved efficient and both cost and carbon-effective and we look forward to receiving many more books in this way and further reducing our carbon footprint.”
Wicks said he was “chuffed to bits” his book was leading the way. “My books are all about taking care of yourself so it is great to know that my publisher is thinking about the wider effect moving books and other products around can have.”