Staples Vegetables upgrades fleet with Sunswap TRUs

By Tom Kilkelly

22 September 2023

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Credit: Sunswap

Leatherhead-based transport refigeration unit (TRU) manufacturer Sunswap has announced a new supply partnership with Staples Vegetables.

The Leatherhead business will supply Staples with 100 per cent of their new transport refrigeration units in 2024.

Sunswap's TRUs are solar and battery powered, during Staples' 12 day trial period of the vehicles they found that 225.6kg of tailpipe carbon dioxide emission (CO2) and 2.1kg of nitrogen oxide emission (NOx) had been removed from the firm's overall emissions.

Staples will use the TRUs to transport brassica crops from the Staples headquarters in Lincolnshire, as part of their ongoing commitment to sustainability and decarbonisation.

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The long-term impact of switching to Sunswap is highly significant over the next 10 years, with Sunswap’s trial data projections indicating that Staples’ fleet of Endurance TRUs will remove 2.4 tonnes of NOx and 256 tonnes of tailpipe CO2, saving 227 tonnes of wider CO2 emissions overall.

Sunswap CEO Michael Lowe said: ''We’re excited to be supplying Staples Vegetables with their transport fridges from 2024, particularly as they are such an ambitious and forward-thinking distributor.

''We were pleased to conclude successful trials in July that proved and exhibited our unit’s versatility for raw foods, and we look forward to seeing our units on the road with Staples full-time.''

By Tom Kilkelly

Tom Kilkelly started working as a freelance journalist for The Business Magazine following his graduation from UCL in 2022.

During his studies Tom became very interested in the works of Irish authors including Samuel Beckett and Flann O'Brien (Brian O'Nolan).

His current role as a freelance business reporter is his first exposure to the world of business journalism. Working at TBM has given Tom the chance to really get to grips with the goings-on in the business hive that is the South East.