As an international company representing the biggest names in fashion and sport, Hudson is conscious of its impact on Mother Earth and seeks to ramp up its sustainability efforts to minimise harm to its surrounding environment.
The fashion industry is a great contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, yet sustainable practices can significantly reduce consumption and waste.
“The brands we choose to represent are proactively reducing the impact of fashion and sport clothing on the environment. They not only seek to reduce their carbon footprint but also want to play an active role in being part of the solution, by working tirelessly through innovation to reduce waste.” explains Hudson Chairman Alife Borg.
“Besides cooperating with brands who share this philosophy, our offices, outlets, and storage facilities have put in place several sustainable measures. We are looking introspectively to fine-tune our procedures to be more respectful towards the environment. ” Mr Borg added.
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Clothes and Shoe Recycling Bins
To reduce waste produced by sport and fast fashion which ultimately finds itself in landfills, Hudson will be introducing recycling bins within it stores, offices and other premises. Clients and employees will be invited to recycle their unwanted clothing and shoes, which will eventually be sold at low prices in the second hand market abroad, or recycled.
Utilization of Rain Water
The Hudson head Office in Burmarrad has a purposely built underground reservoir with a total capacity of 336 m3. Thanks to this, rainwater from roofs and terraces is collected and reused for toilet and tap water, as well as to wash floors and water plants.
Electric Vehicles
The timely transportation of products is fundamental to Hudson’s operation. Nonetheless, by 2024 Hudson is committed to switch all Hudson delivery vans and other transportation vehicles to fully electric.
Bin it Right!
Caring for the planet is a fundamental HUDSON WAY value, which Hudson encourages employees to practice each day. Several brightly labeled bins are placed around the different premises to encourage the right disposal and separation of daily waste.
“We believe that every little helps and saving the planet starts at home…. And within the office” explains Mr Borg. Employees play a vital role in reducing waste, because as they say ‘change starts from within’ and if it isn’t our employees to be given the tools to support the environment, there is no use professing the importance of caring for the environment unless we do so within the offices we frequent on a daily basis, he adds.
No More Paper Cups – Personalised Reusable Cups
Hudson is pulling a concerted effort to reduce its use of paper cups in hope of reducing the paper waste it produces. This will save tens of thousands of cups being thrown in the Malta landfill each year. It also helps to create a sense of beloning and a community feel amongst team members.
This initiative, which provides individually labelled vacuum cups to Malta Hudson employees, will gradually be rolled out to all retail outlets, offices and stores in Malta, with plans to expand to other territories.
Reusing and Recycling Stock Delivery Cardboard boxes
Representing and handling the distribution of a myriad of brands causes Hudson to handle many cardboard boxes. Hudson seeks to reuse these boxes by removing any labeling and utilising them to pack products when distributing stock to its clients or stores in Africa or Europe. The boxes that cannot be reused are flat packed and collected by a waste removal company to be recycled.
Solar Panels installed on roofs – Work in Progress
The distribution centre, found in the south of Malta, welcomes products from Asia and Europe, intended to be shipped to over 20 countries in Africa – acting as the optimal midpoint between international brands and in-country retailers.
This purposely designed and built centre spans a total area of 5,000 sqm of which 3,300sqm was built up and incorporates storage, sorting, service zones for merchandise and an administration area. Through this investment, Hudson has tripled its previous storage capacity.
As part of an ongoing project, the enormous 3000sqm roof area allows for the installation of numerous solar panels. These panels produce a total of 662,640kwh and offset 250 tons of Carbon Dioxide per year, that’s equivalent to that produced by 424 flights between London, UK and New York, USA.
There are future plans of increasing these solar panels to be installed at the Hudson head office and other storage facilities, so as to continue ramping up the company’s sustainability efforts.
Besides efforts to make its operations more sustainable, Hudson has recently launched The Hudson Foundation. Set up in Malta, the foundation seeks to give a voice to the voiceless; children, dogs and mother earth. It has already supported a number of dog shelters by covering medical expenses as well as supporting renovation works, with more projects in the pipeline to help children as well as to encourage sustainable practices amongst the general public through the use of renewable energy. For more information, click here
For more information on Hudson’s sustainability efforts, click here
