Our steps towards a climate-friendly fleet

At Shred Station, our fleet of 100+ specialist shredding and collection vehicles enables us to provide full UK coverage. Without these vehicles, our business couldn’t exist. However, something we are consistently conscious of is carbon emissions. While we do offset all of our fleet emissions, our fleet remains our largest source of carbon, and we’re working hard to reduce its environmental impacts.

The six core pillars of our business ethos are:

• We want our customers to feel confident about data destruction

• Security every step of the way

• A service to suit everyone

• Minimal environmental impacts

• Minimal interruption to our customers

• and to lead the industry through customer service and innovation.

By reducing fleet emissions, we are fulfilling pillar 4 – minimal environmental impacts.

Here are the steps we’ve taken so far to ensure our fleet emissions are kept to a minimum.

Electric trucks

After a few years of electric truck trials, in 2024, we purchased our first fully electric truck – and it is a beast. Our electric artic can carry up to 50 pallets and is ideal for bulk collections.

Since buying the electric articulated lorry, we’ve purchased several other electric large goods vehicles, including a hooklift and a van. Now that the EV market is developing quickly, these will be just the first of many.

Electric forklifts

We are replacing our diesel-powered forklifts with electric models.

At our secure premises, forklifts operate continuously, moving bales of shredded paper and loading them onto our vehicles for transport to recycling facilities. Because they are in constant use, our diesel forklifts consume quite a large amount of fuel. The switch to electric forklifts will save around 10,400 litres of diesel per year per machine. This is not only a massive amount of fuel, but it will also mean a big reduction in our overall carbon emissions for years to come.

Company vehicles

We are transitioning all of our company cards to plug-in hybrid or fully electric models. We also have EV charging facilities at all of our depots to support employees and visitors who need to charge their cars. This is our way of showing support for those making the eco-conscious move to electric vehicles.

Euro 6 low emissions trucks

All of our ICE vehicles meet Euro 6 low-emission standards. Using AdBlue and selective catalytic reduction systems, our truck fumes are almost entirely neutralised. With these systems in place, our trucks are free to drive in ultra-low emission zones.

We will continue to explore the possibilities of fleet emission reduction as the technology develops.

If you’d like to know more about our environmental commitments, please visit our Corporate Social Responsibility pages.