Feature
Exclusive: The dark side of our online shopping obsession As we move towards a culture of next-day deliveries, online shopping and free returns, Pippa Neill and Chloe Coules investigate the environmental and social impact of the UK’s evergrowing warehouse infrastructure.
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ver the past few decades, online shopping has seen exponential growth. According to the Office for National Statistics, 2020 saw a 37% increase in online shopping, over six times that of 2019. Aided by the Covid-19 pandemic, there has also been growth in the number of next-day deliveries. In a recent report the Retail Technology Review found that 43% of consumers now opt for next-day delivery, with 17% stating they would abandon a brand if they face a long delivery wait. As companies come under increased pressure to offer faster and more efficient delivery, many e-commerce giants have been forced to expand their facilities. According to Savills, the estate agents who monitor warehouse capacity across the UK, there has been a 32% increase in the overall number of warehousing units since 2015 and a 242% increase in the number of units that are over 1 million square foot. This growth has led to something called the ‘Golden Triangle’, an area spanning across Northamptonshire, Tamworth and Nottingham where the majority of warehouses are strategically located to allow for 90% of deliveries to be
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completed within four hours. In 2015, the golden triangle was home to 13.4 million square metres of warehouse space. It is now home to 18.5 million. It comes as no surprise that growth on this scale is going to lead to some environmental issues, from land use change, air pollution and energy use. In order to look at the air pollution impact, Air Quality News has collaborated with EarthSense to conduct some exclusive research, looking at Magna Park, Lutterworth, Europe’s largest distribution centre located in Leicestershire. Magna Park is home to the likes of DHL, Asda and Primark and occupies an excess of 8.3 million square feet of logistics space. Using the EarthSense Zephyr® monitors, air pollution data was captured at four different locations: a loop around Magna Park which was completed three times, and then a route around Lutterworth, Monks Kirby and Bitteswell, three small town / village locations selected to compare against Magna Park. The data captured by the monitors has been analysed with
