As 2018 begins to draw to a close, it’s amazing to look back on the year we’ve had at Water Direct and see what we’ve achieved as a team.
We’ve seen significant growth, extreme weather conditions, high demand and invested a great deal back into our resources.
It’s fair to say this has been our busiest year to date. The freeze and subsequent thaw following the Beast from the East in March, along with the drought this summer, both brought new challenges to the industry and truly put the Water Direct team to the test.
In 2018, we have delivered over 110 million litres of water across our services. Over 100 million litres via tankers and over 10 million litres of bottled water.
In the last year we’ve added significantly to our fleet of vehicles, allowing us to continue to meet increasing demand which grows year on year. Following a £2 million investment we’ve increased our fleet by 100% this year, adding numerous state-of-the-art rigid tankers, articulated tankers and curtain sider vehicles.
We’ve also expanded our Nationwide Bottled Water Bank increasing our stock by 133% this year alone. Our bottled water stock now stands at 3.5 million litres and is stored at 20 different locations across the UK.
With the country’s approach to plastic waste changing dramatically this year, following greater media coverage and raised awareness of the potential environmental impact of one-use plastics, we’ve made sure our bottled water is as eco-friendly as possible. During the last year, we have been working closely with our producers to implement the use of recycled materials within the plastic packaging of our own branded bottled water. Two thirds of our producers are now in the process of moving to 50% rPET or more with the aim to have them in circulation in the new year. All of the bottles we provide, are also 100% recyclable, a feature we have always felt is important and one that’s been maintained for a number of years.
Not only have we been increasing and developing our fleet and stock, but we’ve also been investing back into our team and increased our head count by 50% in 2018, adding new drivers and field technicians, duty managers and additional office staff. This has helped further expand our capabilities across all of our depots allowing us to support more and more customers 24/7, 365 days of the year with a swift response.
As we continue to grow, we have not only doubled the office space at our Essex head office, but have now purchased a new and additional depot in the Midlands which will be operational in the new year.
It’s always our goal to deliver exceptional service throughout every stage from a customer’s first call and throughout the delivery itself. It’s been great to see this recognised not only by our customers themselves but also through industry awards. This year we’ve been finalists in six awards, walking away as winners for the Future Water Association ‘People’ Award and the CIR ‘Disaster Recovery as a Service’ Award.