Special audio feature: Behind the scenes at innocent’s new carbon-neutral factory

For this special episode of the edie podcast, our senior reporter Sarah George travels to the port of Rotterdam (by train, of course) to visit innocent Drinks’ ‘blender’, a new carbon-neutral factory which has all manner of innovative built-in features to improve its environmental footprint and the wellbeing of staff.

The $250m factory is innocent’s first owned and operated factory. Previously, it has used a network of partner factories across the UK and mainland Europe. By having one main location, it will be able to consolidate logistics routes, cutting emissions from ingredient and product transportation.

There are also a wealth of low-carbon features on the site itself. It boasts an onsite solar array, with planning in the works for onsite wind turbines too. It is not connected to mains gas, with a heat pump system in place instead. Ingredients and goods are transported across the port using electric heavy goods vehicles. And the system in place for cleaning pipes is almost water-free, using “mini tornadoes” instead.

With these and other features, the factory is able to operate on a carbon-neutral basis. It is certified as BREEAM ‘Outstanding’. Innocent is also aiming for WELL certification.

Members of innocent’s sustainability team and the site team at the blender are on-hand to help Sarah take our listeners behind the scenes at the blender. Thank you to:

• Emilie Stephenson, head of force for good in the UK
• Sam Akinluyi, managing director
• Maurika Bayen, people lead for the blender
• Sam Woollett, site director for the blender

edie’s audio features are available to listen to on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Soundcloud – or bookmark this page to see the full list of podcast episodes as they appear.

Have a question about this feature or a suggestion for future episodes of edie’s regular SustyTalks and Sustainability Uncovered podcast? Get in touch at podcast@fav-house.com.