The achievement is testament to the significant effort made within the company to combat food waste at every stage, starting with new technologies and processes to minimise potential loss at source, and leading right through to taking production overruns to those who need them.
Led by Cranswick's 'Changemakers', who champion food waste reduction efforts internally and host events for all colleagues, the main steps have been:
PRIORITISING PREVENTION
Colleagues were engaged to focus on areas identified for improvement in a food loss and waste hot spot mapping exercise. This process led to innovations such as finding new markets for ham trim packs and moving materials up the waste hierarchy so they can be used in new edible products (such as pet food) rather than being sent to landfill or anaerobic digestors. New catch-trays have been installed to prevent meat from falling on the floor and new packaging is being used that increases shelf life.
A huge help to the prioritising prevention strategy came from the FareShare 'Surplus with Purpose' funding supported by the Government. This has enabled us to redistribute product that previously would not have been donated. As a result of this partnership with FareShare, 87 tonnes of surplus food have been donated to charities across the
BUILDING
Food poverty has tripled in 2020 due to the economic and social impacts of Covid-19 (source: FareShare). While mindful of the longer term goal to eliminate any need for food banks, Cranswick has taken an active role to fight hunger in the interim by sharing and donating good quality, nutrition rich food which increases diet diversity and supports people who are struggling financially.
Cranswick Changemakers have forged close relationships with food charities throughout the
To help tackle the longer-term root causes of food poverty, Cranswick has committed to providing good employment opportunities, a strong apprenticeship scheme and programmes of work with disadvantaged groups in areas local to their various sites.
Looking to the future, Cranswick is determined to build on this success by targeting zero food waste excluding inedible parts, which is above and beyond current industry targets.
The company also wants to share its most successful strategies and best practices, including learnings from its involvement in the 10 x 20 x 30 initiative launched by the
"Beating the Champions 12.3 target on food waste so substantially gives us confidence that zero edible food waste is achievable. We need to get even more resourceful as we strive to get to zero edible food waste, which I am sure we will do with the support from the incredible people across our business.
"Food is such a vital part of our social and cultural heritage, but the current way our food is produced and wasted is crossing several planetary boundaries. By already surpassing the Champions 12.3 target, Cranswick has shown that with innovation, collaboration, behavioural advocacy plus their desire to address food inequality, the food industry can play a crucial role in making a positive impact on the environment and in the community."
"The power of good food in bringing people together can't be underestimated. When a company like Cranswick goes out of their way to provide fresh, locally produced ingredients with which we can create meals, that has a real impact on people's lives and the wider community."
Full details of Cranswick's food waste performance and ongoing strategy can be found here - https://www.thisissecondnature.co.uk/climate/#climate-food-waste
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Their core market is the
They operate from 14 well-invested, highly efficient production facilities in the
Second Nature
Cranswick has committed to becoming the world's most sustainable meat business, as laid out in its
Beating the target of 50% reduction in food waste by 2030 - instead, they have removed 61% of edible food waste by 2020Removing over 1,000 tonnes of plastic from the business - including the removal of black plastic and PVC - and increasing the recycled content of plastic packaging to up to 80%Switching all grid-supplied electricity to renewable sourcesCommitting to a Science Based TargetAchieving Tier One Global Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) standards for the fourth consecutive yearDonating over 250,000 meals to local communities Over 1,500 colleagues volunteered as Second Nature 'Changemakers' to help meet our goalsAward Finalists in 2020: Edie, The Grocer Golds, Better Society Awards
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