CONTACT ERA:
EuropeanRental Association (ERA)
AvenueJules Bordet 142
B-1140Brussels
Belgium
Tel: + 32 2 761 1604
Fax: + 32 2 761 1699
E-MAIL:
Secretariat-Administration:
Secretary General:
The European Rental Associationwants to actively
help all its members (including themembers of the
national rental associations) to bemore sustainable
and realisingwhy theyhave todo so.
ERA also works on promoting the rental industry
as a sustainable business towards the European
authorities and towards the customers. As far as
European authorities are concerned, ERA monitors
European Union legislation and defines the position
of the European rental business.
Sustainability being the motto of ERA’s next
Convention, ERA wants to demonstrate to the
European rental industry how important and
necessary sustainability is and that only the rental
companies understanding and taking the measures
to be sustainable will have a promising future and
will turn to their advantage the fact that “rental is
sustainable”.
The registration to the Convention and to the
Awards Rental Dinner open, go to
.
org/en/events/convention/era-convention-2015.
Alternatively, for more information, please contact
ERASecretariat,
.
Also, the ERA together with IMDER, the
Turkish Construction Equipment Distributors
and Manufacturers Association, are organising
two training days on 12 and 13
March, in Istanbul, Turkey.
■
59
ERANEWS
A look ahead at the key
dates on this year’s European
Rental Calendar – the ERA
Convention and European
Rental Awards.
Sustainability
asanopportunity
During the last meeting of the Sustainability
Committee, on 3 February, Schuttelaar summarised
the results of its work, forming a “catalogue” of
the information obtained from desk research and
interviews.
Supply chain drivers
The “state of play” in the European rental sector is
that the sustainability strategy of rental companies
is mainly driven by the requirements of their
supply chain, including suppliers, customers and
customers’ customers. Healthand safetyarealready
well spread and regulated, whereas environment
is a relatively new topic and lacks regulations at
national and European level.
In addition, whereas sustainability requirements
can appear as a burden for the small and medium
companies in our industry, they often become
a business opportunity for the largest rental
companies.
The business impact of environmental issues
varies across countries: rental companies from
Nordic countries and from the UK are working on
reducing their environmental impact, whereas
Southern Europe is more concerned with price
pressure.
The most significant best
practices identifiedare related to:
■
The selectionof trusted
sustainable suppliers andof
sustainable rental equipment;
■
The support to customers
tohelp them reducing their
environmental impact on a
siteor improving their health
and safetybehaviour;
■
Theoptimisationof fleet transportation;
■
The reductionof energy, waste andwater
consumption;
■
The recyclingof waste andof equipment, etc.
Obviously, rental is sustainable. However, it
appears that some differences exist, depending on
the countries, on the size of the company, on the
customers, etc.
IRNMARCH 2015
T
he 10
th
ERA Convention will take place on
3 and 4 June in Rome, on the subject of
Sustainability as an Opportunity. On the
evening of 3 June, the Rental Awards Dinner will
reward the Most Sustainable Rental Product of the
Year, aswell as the large rental companyof theyear,
the small/mid-sized rental company of the year and
the ERA/
IRN
rental personof the year.
Sustainability is a priority for ERA, as the Board
noted reviewing the results of the membership
survey carriedout in2013anddefining thepriorities
for the activities of the Association’s Committees
for the three years to come. For that reason, ERA’s
former Committee on Sustainability was revived, at
the endof 2013.
In 2014, the Committee, chaired by Franciska
Janzon, senior vice president of marketing,
communications and investor relations at Ramirent,
decided to mandate an external consultant to help
look deeper into the idea that rental is sustainable.
Schuttelaar&Partners,aDutchconsultingcompany
specialised inSustainabilityandHealth,wasselected
and started interviewing a representative sample
of stakeholders of our industry (European rental
companies, national rental associations, OEMs) and
collecting information from theirwebsites.
