The Butterworks Sustainability

Posted on 11th March 2021

Here at The Butterworks we are committed to working towards a sustainable future.

Learn more about our areas of sustainability below:

Our suppliers

Water management

Waste reduction

Commitment to plastic reduction

Packaging

Carbon zero commitment

Our work with the community

Our suppliers

At The Butterworks, we use a UK supply base of ingredient suppliers to reduce our food miles and support local produce.
We currently work with over 200 Welsh farmers across Wales – supporting local and again, less food miles!
With nearly half of the food consumed in the UK being imported, it’s never been more important to support local British dairy and agriculture.
As of 2020, we switched to using a 100% British grown and processed (pressed only) rapeseed oil made with sustainable energy production, in all of our branded and retail own-label spreadable butters. The rapeseed oil is sourced entirely from UK-grown rapeseed crop and is GMO and Hexane free.
We ensure that all of our raw materials come from Red Tractor Assured Farms in the UK. This scheme ensures that food and drink is responsibly sourced from British agriculture and also ensures 100% traceability throughout the food chain and also ensures that food is traceable, safe and farmed with care.

Water

Throughout our business we use water as an ingredient, to run heating and cooling systems and to clean down equipment. Therefore, it’s important that we ensure the water we have used is cleaned and recycled to help our environment.
To achieve this, we have implemented a wastewater treatment system called DAF, which is a wastewater clarification process that removes residues in wastewater, such as solids, greases and oils. These solids are captured and prevented from going down the drain.
The system comprises flow balancing, flocculation and dissolved air flotation (DAF) for solids separation which allows us to achieve a consistently cleaner discharge, ensuring an environmentally sustainable food production method.

Waste Reduction

We have been working hard to reduce our overall process waste by 30% over the next 5 years. We are also targeting that all of our waste will go to anaerobic digestion by 2021. Anaerobic digestion is a naturally occurring process where, in the absence of oxygen, bacteria breaks down organic materials and produces biogas. Anaerobic digestion systems capture the biogas which enables it to be used in a beneficial way e.g. an energy source. This is important as it reduces greenhouse gas emissions, which would contribute to climate change if it was lost to the atmosphere.

Commitment to Plastic reduction

As a member of WRAP we are committed to reducing our plastic packaging. WRAP works with businesses to improve resource efficiency by delivering practical solutions. Their mission is to accelerate the move to a sustainable, resource-efficient economy.
A plastic-free future is what we aim for and we continue to trial alternative packaging and innovative materials as an ongoing priority. We are currently working with suppliers and trialing new materials.
Our plastic tubs are fully recyclable, and we are on track to using a minimum of 30% recycled raw materials.
We are aiming to reduce our overall plastic by 25%.

Packaging

One of our top priorities is reforming our current packaging. Although all of our cardboard outer boxes and our spreadable butter tubs are fully recyclable, we appreciate that our foil packaging is not recyclable. Our cardboard outer boxes are FSC Certified, sustainably sourced, 100% biodegradable and are made from recycled materials.
We are committed to ensuring that all of our packaging is recyclable, compostable and we are also targeting that we have a minimum of 50% recycled raw material.
We also recycle cardboard packaging across our all of our operations.

Carbon Zero Commitment

We’ve developed a plan to tackle our carbon emissions and we aim to be carbon net zero by 2025.

We also look after our community

We currently work with and support two local charities in Wales; Velindre Cancer Centre and The Huggard Homeless Centre, which were both chosen by The Butterworks team.
In 2019 we were the main sponsors of the Velindre Castle2Castle annual charity run, which raised over £40,000. We are also the main sponsors of the 2021 run… and we can’t wait!
As of this year, 2% of our profits will be allocated to Community Foundation Wales. A social and community-based welfare charity which supports local communities and charities where government funding falls short. The profits will form a grant in which local high-school students from disadvantaged areas in Wales, wishing to attend university, can apply for the grant which will help cover university fees, equipment and trips.
We also aim to develop relationships with external charities supporting local communities and the environment, where government funding falls short.