Dengie Achieve Green Accreditation for 2nd Year!
We are proud to announce that we have achieved green status with the national environmental accreditation scheme, Investors in the Environment, for the second year running.
Founded in 1968 as a farmer’s cooperative, Dengie is still run today with the same ethos of supporting the local farming community. At the heart of Dengie is the strong ethos in producing sustainable feeds, growing as many of our own ingredients as possible. Our alfalfa is grown within 20 miles of where it is made into the finished feed and so has one of the lowest ‘feed miles’ of any horse feed ingredient and provides the best traceability possible. This means that every bag of Dengie feed can be traced back to the field it was grown in.
The Investors in the Environment annual audit assesses five key areas of an organisations Environmental Management System. These areas include:
- environmental policy
- resource management and monitoring
- progress against targets
- action planning including social/ environmental projects
- communication
To achieve green status with the prestigious Investors in the Environment scheme, the Dengie team has maintained a good environmental management system and driven down emissions in many key areas, in particular electricity, natural gas and carbon emissions. We have also undertaken a number of projects to enhance the environment and support staff wellbeing, as well as the local community.
The reduction in alfalfa and other fibres lost during the production process has saved 26 tons of carbon emissions, this is equivalent to flying a plane from London to Naples, Italy approximately 1000 miles. We also have a policy to recycle as much unavoidable waste as possible and utilise a contractor (Green Recycling) which has a zero waste to landfill policy.
Several measures are undertaken to reduce waste including sending waste packaging back to our supplier for reuse or recycling, installing machines with longer product runs, undertaking regular line checks and maintenance, paperlite initiatives and reusing waste products where possible. We are also a brand champion for the Green Tractor Scheme to encourage waste reduction.
Ian Hassard, Managing Director at Dengie commented “Sustainability is inherent in everything we do at Dengie, and our recent achievements are a reflection of the importance we place on continually striving to be more efficient. Achieving green status with Investors in the Environment again this year is great recognition for all the work the team at Dengie are doing to ensure that we continue to produce the highest quality feeds in harmony with the environment”.
