Nestlé and Mars are piloting a system of working together to reduce the environmental impact of their deliveries of Christmas confectionery to U.K. retailer Tesco.

They are sharing trucks to deliver combined loads of chocolates, including Mars' Celebrations and Nestlé's Quality Street. The trial has been running for 11 weeks and has so far resulted in over 60 loads being combined, removing some 7,500 miles of duplicate truck journeys.

Working with Tesco, the two manufactures have been able to synchronize their deliveries to each of the three regional distribution centers so that any part load orders that either company receives can be combined into one truckload. The Nestlé and Mars customer service and logistics teams then work together to arrange a single vehicle pickup from each company's distribution centers, before delivering the combined orders to Tesco.

This collaboration has come about through the companies' involvement in sustainability initiatives championed by ECR U.K. and supported by the Institute of Grocery Distribution. These initiatives have so far been responsible for removing some 53 million miles of food transport from the U.K.'s roads.

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