On the Environment

Localnet should have a huge impact on the carbon and resource footprint of the community it serves. But, because it brings huge quality of life benefits to the residents, it is much easier to “sell” to them than the hair shirt approach of many other eco-friendly initiatives. The benefits are across the board in environmental terms - from reduced resource use to improved recycling rates. Quantifying these is one of the next challenges for the localnet project.

Fossil Fuel

It is now widely accepted that moving from internal combustion engines to electrically powered vehicles gives a fundamental improvement in the total carbon footprint associated with travel. The shorter, more concentrated delivery routes that localnet promotes will favour electric vehicles and help accelerate their adoption.

On top of the switch to electric, the shorter routes result in far fewer miles being travelled in total and with much less wasted overhead of the weight of the vehicle as this is always shared across many deliveries.

Food Wastage

Being able to order food for same or next day delivery - without having to “bulk up” the order to a minimum level that qualifies for free delivery - means we don't have to shop so far ahead. Hence we can be more accurate with our predictions of what we need. This should lead to major reductions in the proportion of food that is wasted.

Packaging

localnet encourages refilling of containers and the elimination of throw-away outer packaging for a wide range of consumables - from dry dog food to nappies to bubble bath.

Other classes of goods need less packaging than today. Anything delivered in a localnet box does not require a waterproof outer - so magazines, catalogues and the like can be sent unwrapped.

Recycling

As the empty boxes have to be collected anyway and as the volume of recyclables is going to be a fraction of the volume delivered, it is very convenient to put recyclable packaging back in the boxes from which you took the goods in the first place. There are also opportunities for residents to be rewarded according to how much they recycle.

Composting

If the expected reductions in food wastage are achieved, this will actually reduce the volume of compostable waste that has to be handled. These smaller amounts can only be handled economically if they are collected at the same time as other deliveries/collections are made. The alternative, of waiting until there is enough material to justify a collection, results in food waste sitting around for many days - smelling worse and becoming dangerously unhygienic.