Britvic Soft Drinks Limited recognises that all of our operations and the actions of our employees can have some impact on the environment. Therefore, we have undertaken environmental impact assessments to highlight those areas where we consider our impact on the environment to be most significant. From reviewing these assessments, programmes of continuous improvement and best practice have been introduced which are aimed at reducing the overall impact of the issues concerned.
We have established a company Environmental Policy and reproduced our Health, Safety and Environmental Policy Statement of Intent.
The board of Britvic Soft Drinks Limited recognises that good Health, Safety and Environmental management benefits everyone and makes good business sense. It is the responsibility of everyone to co-operate with the company to ensure that they do not endanger themselves, others or place the environment at risk whilst at work.
We are committed to ensuring that we will comply with all aspects of relevant legislation and that HSE issues are considered on an equal basis to other key business issues when making decisions.
The board will ensure that the management team are equally committed to these principles and adequate resources are provided where necessary.
Through a systematic risk based approach we will:
We are committed to a process of continuous improvement and will monitor our performance against these objectives and report appropriately.
We will ensure that this policy is effectively communicated and understood by all employees, contractors and visitors and that it is made available to others on request.
This policy will be reviewed periodically and changes made to ensure it is kept up-to-date.
For and on behalf of Britvic Soft Drinks:
Paul Moody Chief Executive 16th October 2004
Britvic has adopted an Environmental Management System which is certified to the international standard ISO 14001 and covers all manufacturing sites (except Huddersfield) and our technical centre. All these sites are periodically audited and verified by an external third party to ensure that compliance against the standard is being maintained. (The Certificate Number is EMS 522171).
Britvic factories are operated to the highest standards of quality and food safety. We have maintained ISO9001 accredited systems since the early 1990’s. More recently all our production sites have gone through the process of obtaining accreditation by EFSIS to the BRC Global standard – Food.
Since 2005 the soft drinks sector has had to obtain operating permits for large manufacturing sites from the Environment Agency in accordance with the Pollution Prevention Control Regulations 2000. These require us to be able to demonstrate that we are using the "best available techniques" and pursuing a programme of continuous improvement in managing energy usage, emissions, water usage, wastewater (effluent) and waste management. In all these areas Britvic can demonstrate significant year on year improvements.
Britvic has joined the government backed Climate Change Levy Agreement, which requires organisations in certain sectors of industry to make specified reductions in their energy consumption by given timescales. We are currently making a reduction of 18.6% against our primary specific energy consumption target, plus a reduction of 22.8% against our target for carbon emissions per tonne of product. This equates to an over achievement of approximately 40,000 tonnes of carbon credits. To ensure the information we submit is accurate the CCL scheme employs external auditors to verify our submissions. Their most recent audit of Britvic took place in May 2007, where our submitted energy usage and production volumes were verified.
Water management is crucial to Britvic as it is used both as an ingredient and a process aid for cleaning and sterilising. The management of its quality is of paramount importance as a number of products may contain up to 100% water.
To assist in the efficient use of this natural resource, all our production sites are committed to managing their water consumption. Each year targets are set to improve our water ratio. This is measured by making comparisons between the tonnes of product that we produce against our water consumption which is measured in cubic metres. Over the past six years this ratio has been reduced by 14.6%, and our effluent ratio has been reduced by 20.0%.
The management of waste is based on the waste management hierarchy. Waste materials are reduced, re-used or re-cycled wherever possible. When re-use or recycling is not feasible, waste is disposed of in the most environmentally responsible manner commercially available ensuring that a legal "duty of care" is maintained. Targets for the reduction of solid waste are set annually and constitute one of the key business targets. Over the past six years we have made a 72% reduction in the amount of waste being sent for landfill.
As a manufacturer, we have legal duties under the Packaging and Waste Packaging Obligation Regulations. Our packaging is designed to minimise our environmental impacts while maintaining product integrity and quality. We have pursued a vigorous policy of packaging reduction where possible and also material changes i.e. from PVC bottles to PET bottles. Recycled or recyclable materials are used in packaging where feasible, the majority of secondary and transit packaging is manufactured from recycled materials e.g. cardboard trays are normally 100% recycled material. Up to 25% of the material in PET bottles, approximately 54% of the material in steel cans, 75% of the glass in green bottles and a third of the glass in clear bottles is from recycled sources.
In 2007 we signed up to WRAP and the Courtauld Commitment aiming:
We have taken a number steps to minimise the environmental impact of our transport, whether owned or subcontracted, by taking into account such factors as mode of transport, vehicle efficiency, fuel type, driving style and journey planning. To ensure these measures are fully endorsed by our haulage subcontractors, we have engaged them into a "Haulier Supplier Partnership". This relationship establishes the framework and strategies that are to be used to improve performance in not only environmental aspects, but also health and safety issues. By the use of sophisticated vehicle movement planning software we have been able to significantly reduce the journeys made by unloaded vehicles.
We have been able to make a significant contribution to the reduction of vehicle movements over the past few years through the introduction of vertical integration. For example the company has taken on the operation of blowing its own plastic bottles at a number of production sites dramatically reducing the number of vehicles moving empty bottles up and down the country, to the benefit of the environment and other road users. In 2007 this accounted for removing 2.7 million road miles.
In addition, the impacts of business travel have been monitored and analysed, which has resulted in plans being put in place to minimise them.
Did you know that Britvic has reduced its waste to landfill by 72% since 2002 and that 10000 tonnes of material has already been taken out of our primary packaging.