Ak Gıda-İçim Süt reduces its carbon footprint by 10 percent in logistics

Speaking at the Sustainable Food Summit, Ak Gıda-İçim Süt Supply Chain Director Levent Özcan stated that Ak Gıda, which has a wide sales and distribution network, has implemented innovative projects such as return vehicles, high-volume trailers, double-decker truck loading, train shipment and increasing pallet weights in order to reduce carbon emissions in logistics activities.

Sharing examples of solutions that reduce the carbon footprint, Levent Özcan said, “We now carry the products of our packaging suppliers to our factories with our trucks that used to return 65 percent empty from product delivery. In this way, we increased our return vehicle occupancy above 70%. We also produced Turkey’s first high-volume trailer capable of carrying 29 tons of raw milk and shared this innovation with the entire industry. We strongly believe in the importance of collaborating with all stakeholders to reduce carbon emissions.”

Ak Gıda- İçim Süt is among the supporters of the 8th. Participating in the Sustainable Food Summit, Ak Gıdaİçim Süt Supply Chain Director Levent Özcan explained the projects they have realized to reduce carbon emissions in their logistics activities. Levent Özcan stated that Ak Gıda-İçim Süt, which produces the largest amount of milk and dairy products in Turkey and is the largest producer in the sector with its 6 factories, manages a wide distribution network while continuously developing projects to protect the environment, and gave examples of practices such as return vehicles, high-volume trailers, double-decker truck loading, UHT milk shipment by train and increasing pallet weights. Levent Özcan said: “With the projects we launched last year, we worked on how much we could reduce carbon emissions in both raw milk and finished product logistics and set a target of reducing carbon emissions by 10 percent in our logistics activities. Those days were a period when we also experienced difficulties in transportation due to the pandemic. Despite this, with the solutions we developed, we managed to deliver our milk and dairy products to our consumers without interruption during the pandemic and reduce our carbon footprint while doing so. 9 percent of our target has been realized so far. This shows that we will achieve our target by the end of the year.”

The Importance of Sectoral Cooperation in Reducing Carbon Footprint

Levent Özcan explained that they developed a digital application where the data on the amount of milk collected at milk collection points is entered into the system and the route can be changed according to the occupancy rate of the vehicle determined by this data, thus achieving maximum efficiency: “We also monitored the volumes of our trucks delivering the finished product. The vehicles were 65 percent empty on the way back. At this stage, we developed a project with our packaging suppliers and became the transporter of our suppliers by carrying the packaging they produced for us on the way back.”

Underlining that alternative transportation methods are very effective in reducing carbon emissions, Levent Özcan said that they have shipped UHT milk by train for the first time and that they are gaining experience in this field day by day.

Levent Özcan said that raw milk in Turkey is transported by trucks with a carrying capacity of 23 tons and that Ak Gıda, together with its logistics solution partner, developed the highest volume trailer in Turkey and Europe, which can carry 29 tons of raw milk. Özcan stated that they shared the details of this project with the sector, which reduces carbon emissions in raw milk transportation by saving 1 transport for every 6 transports, and continued as follows: “High-volume trailers can be used by all companies in the dairy sector. Because we believe in the importance of all stakeholders acting together to reduce our carbon footprint. As a company, we attach great importance to sharing good practice examples with all sectors and stakeholders, not only in logistics but in every field.”