Parcel delivery firm DPD UK has partnered with leading independent conservation organisation World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to support the charity’s ground-breaking seagrass restoration project – Seagrass Ocean Rescue.  

The Project aims to help restore 15% of seagrass meadows across the UK by 2030, to capture and store hundreds of tonnes of carbon each year and help play a role in the UK reaching its carbon emission targets.

Globally seagrass has been found to be more effective at absorbing and storing carbon than tropical rainforests.  However, these sensitive seabed habitats are at risk from a variety of factors, including disease, pollution and physical disturbance from human activities. 

In addition, planting seagrass meadows can significantly enhance the biodiversity and health of the UK’s seas and coastal ecosystems.

DPD UK has donated £40,000 from the firm’s innovative Eco Fund to help support phase two of the programme in The Solent.  The work between now and 2024 will include working in partnership with government agencies on ecological field trials on best planting methodologies, seagrass restoration, alongside community and stakeholder engagement and the delivery of innovative educational programmes.

DPD’s Eco Fund is part of the company’s wide-ranging sustainability programme and is funded solely by the firm’s circular economy initiatives. Plastic shrink wrap used throughout the operation is broken down, and then recycled to create new shrink wrap.  The money generated from this, along with the recycling of wooden pallets, goes straight into the Eco Fund to fund sustainable projects benefiting the environment.

Ricardo Zanre, Ocean Restoration Programme Manager at WWF-UK commented;

“We’re thrilled that DPD UK has chosen to donate £40,000 towards our Seagrass Ocean Rescue project in The Solent. Thanks to this support we’re able to deliver our ground-breaking restoration project, trialing the latest seagrass planting methodologies and building towards our long-term aim, which is to see 15% of seagrass meadows restored across the UK by 2030.

“Seagrass is an incredible flowering marine plant which can absorb carbon up to 35 times faster than a tropical rainforest, it’s vital that we continue to restore these ecosystems that also provide important habitat that supports biodiversity, including important UK fisheries, so that we can create a future where people and nature can thrive together. Thank you to DPD UK for playing a part in making this happen.”

 

Tim Jones, Director of Marketing, Communications & Sustainability, DPD UK commented;

“This is a fabulous project and something we are very proud to be involved in. At DPD, our aim is to be the most sustainable parcel delivery company in the UK and that means running an ambitious programme to transform our own operation as well as working with those organisations able to directly protect and enhance the ecosystems we are all reliant on.” 

Earlier this year, DPD UK announced a four-year partnership with Forestry England to plant and restore woodland across England to tackle climate change and create positive benefits for local wildlife and communities. The partnership will focus on four separate woodland sites where DPD support will enable Forestry England to plant trees to create new woodland areas and carry out work restoring valuable established woodlands.

Details on all of DPD’s sustainability initiatives can be found on its dedicated DPD green website and include plans to have over 3,000 electric vehicles on the road in the UK this year and 5,000 by 2023, when it will be delivering to 30 towns and cities on all-electric vehicles only.

 

 

About DPD UK

DPD UK was awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2015 in the Innovation category, for its unique one-hour delivery service, Predict. 

In 2018, DPD opened the UK’s first all-electric parcel delivery depot in Westminster. DPD currently has over 2,100 EVs on the road in the UK and has announced plans to deliver to 30 of the largest towns and cities in the UK with zero and low-emission delivery means by 2023.  In July 2021, Oxford became DPD’s first all-electric city in the UK. Details of all of DPD’s sustainability initiatives can be found on its dedicated green website: https://green.dpd.co.uk/

DPD UK is a member of DPDgroup, the largest parcel delivery network in Europe. DPDgroup is the parcel delivery network of GeoPost, a holding company owned by France’s La Poste.

The company operates more than 10,000 vehicles from 84 locations and delivers over 400 million parcels a year.