Southgate Global calls on industry to repair not replace

Major changes in the global political and economic landscape have put the spotlight on sustainability at an international level. With leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) discussing sustainable development, the focus remains on organisations to consider how they can reduce their carbon footprint.

In light of this, Southgate Global is encouraging those operating in the warehouse industry to consider what machinery and equipment can be repaired instead of replaced.

According to a report by Deloitte published in 2024, discarded repairable goods account for 35 million tons of waste, 30 million tons of resources and 261 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year in the EU.[1] This is having a detrimental impact on the environment, with 6.3 million tonnes of waste sent to landfill in the UK in 2022 alone.[2]

Southgate is urging customers to consider repair or renovation across its entire packing and material handling equipment portfolio. This covers carts, trolleys, shredders and strapping equipment through to void fill systems, mobile power workstations and more.

Their Technical Services team of dedicated experts aims to extend product life for years into the future and is on hand to help identify what is worth repairing and what has come to the end of its useful life. It does so by considering the cost of the repair compared to the cost of replacement, alongside the age of the equipment, its typical lifecycle and whether replacement offers significantly important feature improvements and related benefits over existing equipment. This approach can help organisations reduce their carbon footprint and help meet ESG goals.

One of Southgate’s customers has made significant steps towards its sustainability goals by assessing repair not replace options. The large e-commerce business faced significant downtime due to damaged carts and trolleys. Thanks to Southgate’s maintenance plan and repairs, the organisation was able to reduce downtime and Capex by over £40 million in a single year.

According to data analysis by Southgate, the carbon footprint of replacing a roll cage trolley is six times greater than the carbon footprint created to repair it. This is due to the use of new raw materials and the manufacturing processes involved in replacing them. This also covers steel and aluminium, emissions generated during welding and transportation.

John Maher, Head of Technical Services at Southgate Global, said: “At Southgate our mantra is ‘repurpose, repair before we replace’, which is why we’ve invested heavily in our Technical Services team, to help our customers not only reduce their downtime, but also their environmental impact and carbon footprint.

“We understand how detrimental it can be to an organisation when a piece of machinery or equipment stops working. And with the ability to order a replacement in a matter of minutes, which could arrive the following day, we appreciate why a business might have chosen to replace instead of repair items.

“However, we can offer a viable and more sustainable alternative to replacing equipment each time it needs repairing. We’re on hand to help organisations meet their sustainability goals, without compromising on the quality of equipment or their operational productivity.”

Southgate’s skilled Technical Services team offers comprehensive servicing for packing and material handling equipment, whether the product is supplied by Southgate or not, as well as renovation and repair services. As part of its dedication to providing customers with an efficient service, the team recently launched the Southgate ServAgree app, which gives organisations everything they need to know about the servicing of their machines and equipment in one easy-to-use place.

Whether requirements are for a single site, multi-site or multi-country across warehouse, manufacturing, post & parcel, retail, e-commerce and 3PL operations, Southgate can provide all the equipment, consumables and servicing required within operational logistics with solutions to meet specific fulfilment challenges.