Beans means … lower carbon

Baked bean manufacturer Heinz has reduced its carbon footprint by more than 17,000 tonnes in the last four years.


The company has been working with the Carbon Trust to slash carbon dioxide emissions at its factories in Kendal, Cumbria and Kitt Green, near Wigan.

The saving is equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions from heating more than seven hundred million microwave meals, or from taking around 6,000 cars off the road for a year.

Heinz’s energy managers, working with Carbon Trust experts, found a great deal of energy was needed to heat cold water to rehydrate the dried beans. Energy is also needed to create the steam that cooks the beans in their cans.

Capturing and recycling the waste heat from these processes means that less energy is now needed to heat the water, which in turn has led to a drop in carbon emissions.

Lower carbon emissions also means lower energy bills and Heinz has saved over 13% of its annual energy costs in its Kitt Green food-processing complex alone, over the last two years.

“The Carbon Trust has helped us take a more strategic approach to carbon reduction. As well as seeing some impressive results in the UK, we are successfully applying what we’ve learned across our global operations,” said Dave Woodward, president of Heinz UK and Ireland.

Heinz is also exploring opportunities to produce power from waste and use more renewable energy in a bid to cut the Company’s global carbon emissions by 20% on 2005 levels by 2015.

Luke Walsh

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