It wasn't good enough to just achieve "zero waste" to landfill – Wingland Foods wanted to go further. So the company decided to empower its staff to think differently when it came to waste.
The company, which supplies salad and deli items to Waitrose, worked with communications specialists WasteSolve to develop and launch the campaign "We Nourish and We Flourish". The campaign is based on the idea that for a business to be sustainable, it is important that its employees play an active role in replenishing and nurturing the environment.
WasteSolve began with a resource audit, as well as a staff survey, that highlighted the importance of raising awareness on the potential for second life routes for waste. To help achieve this awareness, the company created a range of communication materials focussing on different waste streams. It also ran an interactive launch event for staff that used a variety of different learning styles, as well as social and solitary games, to engage people on the issues.
The campaign encouraged staff to think about the entire lifecycle of Wingland's products and set up supply chain collaborations with farmers, community groups and customers, as well as other food manufactures. The result has been a transformation in how waste is seen within the company. Now 96% of Wingland's waste is reused every month; the rest is classified as waste to be converted to energy.
Each of the seven defined waste streams have seen significant annual improvements. For example, 12 tonnes have been diverted from anaerobic digestion to community food banks and charities via surplus food donation. For soft plastics, five tonnes have been diverted from incineration to be recycled. At the same time, electricity consumption has been reduced to its lowest level since 2006, and water consumption cut by 30%.
Nicolette Fox is part of the wordworks network
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