Environment Strategy
Environment
We recognise the impact our business has on the environment. We aim to grow and succeed as a sustainable business by reducing our key environmental impacts – energy and water use, waste, packaging, and transport.
We continue to implement energy improvement initiatives and promote a culture of energy efficiency across all our operations.
Environmental Policy and ISO 14001
We are committed to the prevention of pollution and to the continual improvement of our environmental performance in line with all relevant legislation and other self-imposed requirements.
All our sites are audited against the ISO 14001 standards.
Environmental targets and 2010/11 progress update
Our environmental targets are aligned to agreed industry standards included in the British Soft Drinks Association sustainability strategy.
| Objective | Target | Progress |
| Achieve a 30% reduction in manufacturing Global CO2 emissions by 2020, compared to 1990 levels | Achieve a minimum 2% year on year improvement across manufacturing sites | 2.1% saving in CO2 has been achieved in 2010/11 |
| Achieve a 30% reduction in waste water volumes by 2020 compared to 2007 levels | Achieve a minimum 3% year on year improvement across manufacturing sites | 10.9% year on year improvement achieved |
| Send zero manufacturing waste to landfill by 2015 | All manufacturing sites to achieve zero waste to landfill by 2013 | 10% improvement achieved across the Group |
| Improve the sustainability of all our packaging | Successfully implement packaging weight reduction initiatives Achieve a year on year increase in the use of recycled materials in our packaging |
Packaging weight reduction achieved for 250ml, 500ml and 2l PET bottles and all Strathmore glass bottles Unable to extend use of rPET due to supply chain shortages. |
| Reduce the external impacts of transport by 20% by 2012 compared to 2002 | Achieve a minimum 2% year on year improvement in fleet MPG performance Implementation of vehicle CO2 emission reduction programme |
A 1% improvement year on year achieved |
The environmental committee plays a key role in monitoring performance against our environmental targets and developing a consistent approach to implementing environmental initiatives across the Group.
- Operations Director
- Environmental committee
- Cumbernauld Site
- Tredegar Site
- Forfar Site
- Logistics
Group progress against environmental targets is reported to the board of directors on a quarterly basis.
Manufacturing energy used (kWh) per tonne of product produced
| 2011 | 98.02 |
| 2010 | 102.40 |
| 2009 | 110.04 |
| 2008 | 111.96 |
| 2007 | 121.56 |
| 2006 | 135.49 |
Manufacturing water used (l) per litre of product produced
| 2011 | 1.47 |
| 2010 | 1.63 |
| 2009 | 1.67 |
| 2008 | 1.86 |
| 2007 | 1.75 |
| 2006 | 2.01 |
Percentage of recycled/recovered waste
| 2011 | 89.37 |
| 2010 | 80.61 |
Future Sustainability
We are progressing with a project to install a wind turbine at our Cumbernauld site which is projected to be operational during the course of 2011/12. It is anticipated that the turbine will provide approximately 30% of the energy required by our manufacturing operations at Cumbernauld.
Sustainable Manufacturing
A.G. BARR aims to achieve a 30% reduction in manufacturing CO2 emissions by 2020, compared to 1990 levels.
Climate Change Agreements were introduced in 2001 as a mechanism to encourage energy intensive industries to reduce their use of energy, in return for an 80% reduction in the cost of the Climate Change Levy Tax. All A.G. BARR manufacturing sites (excluding Pitcox) hold a Climate Change Agreement.
During the life of our Climate Change Agreements, we have reduced our net absolute carbon emissions (kgC) by 8% whilst increasing production by 34%. Without these improvements in energy efficiency at our manufacturing sites, we would have consumed an additional 24,418,634kWh, the equivalent energy required to power c.5,800 family homes for one year (source: University of Strathclyde household electricity consumption report), and emitted an additional 1,493.5 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere in 2010/11.
Energy efficiency at our manufacturing sites made further improvements last year, with the Group reducing its emissions per tonne of product by an average of 2.1% (source: A.G.BARR data).
kgCO2/tonne across 2010/11
| Cumbernauld | 0.83% |
| Forfar | 9.63% |
| Tredegar | 5.70% |
| Mansfield | 0.30% |
| Pitcox | 14.30% |
| Group Total | 2.12% |
At Cumbernauld, installation of a new tunnel pasteuriser on the can line contributed to a significant reduction in gas usage. Installation of two new combi bottle blowers and fillers on two PET lines led to energy savings, by reducing the pressures needed to blow bottles.
Energy saving projects at Forfar included the installation of a new insulated warehouse roof and installation of a PLC controller on the high pressure compressor. The latter has allowed greater control of the blowing pressures required to produce different bottle sizes and led to a reduction in energy consumed.
A.G. BARR plans to continue investing in energy saving initiatives at its manufacturing sites during 2011/12. Initiatives include installing invertors on the remaining high pressure compressors at the Cumbernauld site, replacing the low pressure air compressor with a variable speed drive at our Forfar site to allow more efficient running following learnings from the Cumbernauld site during 2009/10, and installing an energy monitoring system at the Tredegar site to observe energy usage in greater detail in order to drive greater energy efficiencies.
During 2010/11, intelligent automated meter reading meters were installed at our five England direct to store distribution depots. Energy usage is now tracked at half hourly intervals to target inefficiencies and further improve performance.
