Sustainability At SnackTime

If you’ve ever wondered about the environmental credentials of your vending machine, the products stocked or your vending service, you can relax if you’re using a SnackTime vending machine. As well as being the UK’s number one snack vending machine operator and the third largest vending company, SnackTime is also leading the way in the vending industry with their ethical stance.

At SnackTime and within our vending companies, we realise that a field based vending machine company has the potential to significantly harm the environment. We recognise that many of our processes, products and services have the potential to affect the surroundings in which we operate.

We commit to meet all environmental legislation and we are regularly reviewing our environmental and sustainability processes. For example, we have recently changed our paper cup supplier to Benders Paper Cup Company which is fairtrade and ethically aware. They use compostable packaging and ethically sourced raw materials from sustainable, managed forests and are also a member of the Paper Cup Recovery and Recycling Group. In our SnackTime group depots and offices we now recycle all office paper, drinking cups and bottles, and all packaging.

We are always reassessing how we can make our business more environmentally friendly and how we can improve our sustainability, whilst ensuring our vending machine customers continue to receive a premium quality vending service with the best products available. Very recent examples include the fact that we now actively promote our own Fairtrade coffee range Cafe Joe across the country, instead of just in London, and we have recently become a Kenco 'Proud Partner' which produces Rainforest Alliance Coffee. We have also expanded our distribution of recyclable paper cups to across the UK instead of just London and the South East.

Being a vending business, our key focus is where we can have the greatest impact. These are in our vended product selections; vending machine sourcing; energy consumption; packaging; waste and recycling; and distribution and transport.

Vended Product Selections

Particularly in the past year, we have introduced huge changes within SnackTime to improve our sustainability:

- We have employed a Buying Director whose key focus is to improve our environmental impact by selecting products and suppliers who are committed to the environment.

- We offer our own 100% Fairtrade range of hot drinks, Cafe Joe, which includes not only coffee but tea, hot chocolate and sugar.

- We are partnered with Kenco who offer Rainforest Alliance coffee.

- We are partnered with Mars confectionery who recycle or reuse materials throughout the manufacturing process. They also produce a wide range of Rainforest Alliance confectionery items including Galaxy and Galaxy Bubbles. In Sept 2011, Maltesers also became Mars' first Fairtrade brand. Mar has also committed to buy all of its cocoa from sustainable production sources by 2020.

- Our vending crisp partner Walkers, in 2007, was the first company to display a carbon reduction logo on a consumer product and then the first to retain it in 2009. It represents Walkers commitment to become sustainable and to make their efforts in reducing their carbon footprint more transparent. Walkers distribution section also has a commitment to year on year reduce fuel consumption and eliminate empty journeys. All Walkers packs of crisps are recyclable and all packaging waste generated from the production process is recycled to make items such as park benches and garden furniture.

Waste and Recycling

- We actively support and encourage all our hot drink machine customers to participate in the vending cup recycling scheme 'Save a Cup'. 

- We divide waste into subcategories and recycle all packaging from deliveries from our suppliers such as cardboard, plastic and paper.

- Our offices and depots are committed to recycle all office paper waste, drinking bottles and cups, cardboard boxes and other waste items.

- We encourage all staff to print as little as possible and use electronic means wherever possible. We have recently moved most of our invoicing and cheque payments to online.

- We ensure that we only distribute full pallets and full van loads of products whenever possible.

- The SnackTime Group complies with the European WEEE directive (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) in all the countries covered by this legislation.

Distribution and Transport

- We have changed our distribution systems so that products are delivered in bulk direct to local operators and local depots rather than via a larger regional depot. We have therefore cut out one entire leg of the distribution process.

- We have moved to a smaller number of full time staff rather than a greater number of part time staff to cover customers. This means fewer journeys for regional managers and fewer stock distribution trips. This in turn has improved fuel efficiency. We also pay a large number of our operators on a % of sales basis. This means they only visit customer machines and not according to a theoretical frequency.

- Specialist logistics planning software has been introduced to improve the route efficiency of operators and technical staff. This is an on-going process which is constantly reviewed and improved.