The company, famous for brands including McVitie’s, Hula Hoops, KP, McCoy’s and Jacob’s, has a total of 14 UK sites.

The four sites Hayes, Consett, Rotherham and Ashby made the cuts by reducing the amount of waste being brought in to the business.

And burning any residual waste that could not be recycled normally to create energy from waste in an incinerator.

The biscuit maker announced last year it had achieved a target of zero food waste to landfill by 2010 a year early – and after achieving a 44% reduction in non-food waste to landfill in 2009, brought forward its target of zero non-food waste to landfill to 2012, from the original deadline of 2015.

The firm’s UK manufacturing director, Mark Thorpe, said: “We’ll continue to work hard to ensure more of our sites achieve this until we meet our target of zero waste to landfill by 2012.

“We’ll continue to increase recycling, reduce the amount of waste we bring in to sites, and as a last resort, incinerate waste to create energy, but we’ll also look to reduce the amount of waste we generate internally and work with our suppliers to identify ways they can help us achieve our target.”

Luke Walsh

Action inspires action. Stay ahead of the curve with sustainability and energy newsletters from edie

Subscribe