Noble Foods prides itself on being the “progressive face of the UK egg
industry”.

As such, the largest supplier of eggs and egg products in the country
has made a company-wide commitment to improve its environmental performance
by achieving certification to the ISO 14001 standard. Teaming up with NQA,
Noble has set new environmental standards for egg production and the
environmental certification has been set across all of its divisions.

Headquartered in Tring, Hertfordshire, the business moves millions of
eggs every day from farms across the UK to the country’s leading
supermarkets. It covers all areas of egg production – from feed milling to
value added egg products and processing end of lay hens.

The company has a range of divisions, covering agriculture, packing,
milling, poultry processing, egg products and desserts.

With such a diverse and far-reaching range of activity linked to the
natural environment and the production of food, Noble Foods was well aware
of the importance of environmental standards, and has been improving its
environmental management systems for the past four years.

Responding to the increasing demands of the environmental agenda, the
firm wanted to seize the opportunity of leading from the front,
demonstrating its environmental credentials in a more formal manner. The
key drivers in doing this were twofold: to educate and enthuse employees on
pollution prevention and reducing energy usage and waste; and to show
customers that they were serious about the environment.

Driven by a committed leadership team, all divisional directors signed
up to the environmental policy, which has been taken up throughout the
company. Team meetings now include environmental updates and the company
has introduced divisional green champions. Group-level and site-based green
teams meet regularly to discuss continual environmental performance
improvement at strategic and operational levels.

The green champions are supported by a dedicated environmental
department that guides and promotes low carbon initiatives across the
company. Initiatives that span all divisions include measuring energy
consumption, introducing renewable energy sources such as wind turbines,
solar panels and LPG conversions for lorries and reductions in waste to
landfill.

Since it started the certification process, Noble Foods has not only
seen its employees more engaged and providing solutions to common
environmental issues, but it has also seen improved communications within
the company on environmental issues. And looking at the figures, its LPG
trials have resulted in an 11% cost saving on diesel consumption. Outside
the company, there has been less enforcement from the regulators and also
noticeable interest from customers.

“As the progressive face of the UK egg industry, our approach to
environmental management is leading the way within our industry,” says
Nigel Youd, Noble’s group environmental manager.

“NQA’s food and drink expert assessors are providing invaluable
assistance in achieving our aspirations and providing real value.”
noblefoods.co.uk

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