Sustainability

Who says delicious treats and a healthy planet don’t go hand in hand? Certainly not us. Our commitment to sustainability is woven into every aspect of our business, from the ingredients we source throughout our supply chain to the energy we use in our bakeries. We’re committed to reducing our environmental impact and operating responsibly, ensuring that future generations can enjoy the sweetness of life.

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Our Groups recipe for eco-efficiency – Sustainability Excellence

Our commitment to sustainability is woven into all areas of our business. We have a clear strategy that is focusing on minimising our carbon footprint, the amount of waste generated and conserving resources we consume. Utilising our Finsbury 1 Excellence program we are continually driving improvements across our complete value chain to ensure improvement in Sustainability performance – everyone within the Group has a part to play.

Carbon & Energy Reduction – We are dedicated to reducing our environmental impact on local, national and international issues relating to sustainability. While we don’t have externally verified Carbon Reduction Targets, we have internal carbon reduction targets set against a 2016 baseline that were established using the Science Base Targeting Initiative (SBTi) methodology.

Waste Management – We are focused on reducing the amount of waste we create and ensuring that our waste is diverted from landfill where possible. We’re proud to say that we are a ‘zero waste to landfill’ Group. We are continuously seeking to review waste streams at our bakeries and looking to reuse waste where appropriate – this has resulted in partnerships developing with food redistribution charities such as ‘That Bread and Butter Thing’ which sees some of our waste being used in local foodbanks.

Spotlight on sustainable initiatives

Across all areas of the business we utilise our Finsbury 1 Excellence Program to drive performance and this is no different for the sustainability area. Through this framework we have generated multiple teams that are looking at sustainability improvements within both Group and Factory environments. We have dedicated specialists looking at all areas of our operations to ensure we’re pushing the boundaries of compliance and sustainable practices across the business. Check out other ways we use our approach to Excellence across the Group here, from process to product.

Sustainable Infrastructure Teams

This team focuses on mid-to-long-term improvement projects to reduce carbon emissions and support our internal carbon reduction targets. Here is some of the easy ways we make daily improvements:

Energy Improvement Teams

Each manufacturing site has a dedicated team focused on reducing utility usage through metering, monitoring, and regular meetings to identify and implement improvements.

Heat Recovery Project

At one of our cake manufacturing sites, we’re utilising waste heat from our compressors to pre-heat the hot water used for cleaning, resulting in significant gas savings.

Timer Installations

We’ve fitted timers to high electricity usage equipment at one of our bakeries to reduce energy consumption during weekends.

Water Data Loggers

The use of half-hourly water data loggers across all our sites has led to over 20% reductions in water usage across the group.

Plastics & Recycling

Our factory teams recycled 1147 tonnes of paper and cardboard including paper sacks from our ingredients, cardboard packaging, cartons and cardboard cores. That’s the equivalent in weight of 220 African elephants!

Responsible Packaging | Finsbury Food Group

Reducing our footprint through responsible packaging

In 2022, we became signatories to the UK Plastic Pact, which brings together businesses from across the entire plastics value chain with UK governments and NGOs to tackle the scourge of plastic waste. Finsbury Food Group also aligned itself by pledging our support to the WWF Basket Goal, which aims to halve the environmental impact of UK shopping baskets by 2030.

Sourcing our secret ingredients with care

e aim to source raw materials which are as environmentally friendly as possible, we work with a number of sourcing schemes such as Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade, and we support collective action for people and nature.

Palm Oil – We have been a member of the Round Table For Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) since 2014, and in 2020, launched our own initiative to ensure all the palm oil we buy is fully segregated as certified palm oil, rather than mixed with uncertified (known as mass balance). We’ve succeeded in this with 99% of our palm oil.

Cocoa – Working with our cocoa-sourcing partners and external customers, we’ve joined relevant sustainability programmes, including Fairtrade, Cocoa Horizons and UTZ / Rainforest Alliance.

See our bakeries

We source ingredients with care | Finsbury Food Group