A FIRM with green credentials has completed a shipshape contract.
A customer placed an order with Suma Foods, of Elland, and asked if he could collect it himself – by canal boat.
Graham Phillips is now travelling 155 miles from his Midlands base via the inland waterways network to collect the order.
He runs a business called Tia, which sells environmentally responsible products from his narrowboat as he cruises around the south Midlands.
Suma spokesman Andrew Mackintosh said: “Luckily, we are next to the Calder and Hebble Navigation Canal, so it is not far to a wharf where Graham can load his order on to his boat.
“He set off on the 155-mile journey to Suma last Sunday and will be meeting us on Tuesday, July 17 – flooded canals and locks permitting!”
Suma staff plant 3,500 trees every year to offset the emissions of the company’s fleet of vans.
The company gets its energy from renewable sources, it recycles and organises river clean-ups.
It also plants wildflower gardens in urban areas.
Suma has also supplied computer equipment to Africa and send an IT trainer to show people there how to use it.
Mr Mackintosh said: “We are well known for our ethical, ecological and environmental stance.
“But Graham's request ‘out-greened’ even us.’’
Suma Foods, based at Lowfields, is a co-operative owned, managed and controlled by its 150 worker members.
It is the UK’s biggest independent wholefood wholesaler with sales of about £27m.
It has a range of 6,000 products, including beers, tinned beans, honey, fruit juices, pate, cakes and chocolate.
Tia sells also products environmentally-friendly cleaning products such as washing powder, washing up liquid, shampoo and shower gel.
