Settle creamery reduces carbon impact

Settle creamery has helped Arla hit one of its major milestones to reduce its carbon impact by 25 per cent by 2020.

In line with its ambition to get Closer to Nature, Settle creamery at Sowarth Field is the first of Arla’s eight sites to send zero waste to landfill.

“We wanted to take the lead by trying to recycle as much as we could so the creamery worked hard to find an outlet for its most difficult products to recycle, including heavy duty cardboard, even though it could have taken the easy route and sent Settle’s waste straight to incineration in order to achieve its zero landfill target,” explains Richard Laxton, Arla’s group environment, health and safety adviser.

Settle’s achievement is just one in a long line of successful environmental initiatives taking place across Arla.

Last year the company produced the lightest two pint polybottle for milk. The industry average for a two pint bottle is 27 grammes but Arla managed to reduce this by two grammes, without compromising the functionality of the bottles. Similar initiatives have resulted in the company using 983 tonnes less packaging over the last three years.

And it’s not just packaging and operations in the company’s sights, Arla is the first dairy company to sign up to the Freight Transport Association’s (FTA) Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme.

One example of the initiatives, that allowed Arla entry to the scheme, is straight out of Settle creamery.  Following successful trials, UHT pallets can be double stacked for onward transportation on HGV trailers.  By utilising unused space on the trailers, the vehicles make fewer journeys and in turn reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

Operations director at Settle creamery, Jens Rix, said: “As a major employer in the area we recognise the importance of minimising our carbon impact as much as possible and are fully committed to further reducing this in the future.”