Sustainability

We’ve always said at Weetabix that sustainability is baked into our DNA as a company. Since 1932, we’ve been a local business with big ambitions to nourish the nation with our nutritious breakfasts.

This year marks the third year since we laid out our current sustainability strategy, the Change for Better approach, that has helped to guide our work. It has ensured that we stay focused on the main prize, which is for the Weetabix Food Company to have the biggest possible positive impact on our world, our business and our communities.

View our 2023 report

OUR STRATEGIC PILLARS

The Change for Better approach splits our efforts into four key pillars. We have set ambitious targets against each of these and we regularly report on our progress.

 

 

weetabix_sustainability-report_2020_Icons-01

Sustainable Ingredients

weetabix_sustainability-report_2020_Icons-02

Low-Impact Packaging

weetabix_sustainability-report_2020_Icons-03

Efficient Operations

weetabix_sustainability-report_2020_Icons-04

Health & Wellbeing

wbx_corp_pstr_dsk_1500x800_ourbelief_000035203824
weetabix_sustainability-report_2020_Icons-01

Pillar 1

Sustainable Ingredients

“We’ve made such great progress in this area over the past few years, with teams across the business putting in the hard yards to ensure that all our major ingredients are now sustainably sourced and certified by third parties such as the Rainforest Alliance and RSPO. Now, we’re turning our attention back to our wheat, refreshing how we work with our local farmers to take our industry-leading wheat protocol on a step. Our ambition is to stay at the forefront of sustainable farming for the long term.”

Peter Chandley, Head of Quality and Food Safety, Pillar 1 lead

5677-weetabix-table-banner-639-x-459-stg1
weetabix_sustainability-report_2020_Icons-02

Pillar 2

Low-Impact Packaging

“We’re on the cusp of a big milestone in this pillar. By summer 2022, 99% of our packaging will be recyclable, up from 93% this time last year. That represents a huge effort as we’ve looked for recyclable materials that will keep our carbon footprint low. Obviously getting to 100% recyclable is our next big target, which we’re committed to reaching by 2025, but we’re also investigating innovative ways to reduce the amount of plastic we use. Part of this is about looking beyond our direct emissions to those of our suppliers and working hard to understand how we can support them to reduce their carbon footprint too… All while making sure we minimise food waste. It’s a challenge, but it’s one we’re up for!”

Mark Tyrrell, Packaging Development Manager, Pillar 2 lead

MR4_2650-Bob-in-energy-centre
weetabix_sustainability-report_2020_Icons-03

Pillar 3

Efficient Operations

“We’ve been doing a huge amount of work to baseline all our energy and resource usage, measuring our carbon footprint, and making steps to reduce our consumption and emissions. Switching to purchasing renewable electricity is probably our biggest single step to date, and one we’re very pleased to have achieved this year.”

Lee Orbell, Environmental Manager, Pillar 3 lead

MR4_2087-Apprentices-in-car-park-
weetabix_sustainability-report_2020_Icons-04

Pillar 4

Health & Wellbeing

“Weetabix cereals have a reputation as delicious and nutritious, and it’s our job to maintain that and offer good food people can trust. We’ve also increased our focus over this past year on the work we’re doing to support the wellbeing of our people and the communities in which we work. Danny Singh, our Inclusion Lead, has been leading the way in developing our culture of inclusion and celebrating our diversity. Marcus Rashford’s Child Food Poverty Taskforce and supporting girls’ football through the FA’s Wildcats are just two of the many great causes we’re proud to play our part in.”

Zoe Brimfield, Senior Brand Manager & Elinor Twiselton, Engagement and Internal Communications Senior Manager, joint Pillar 4 owners

 

2021 PROGRESS

Since publishing our 2020 Sustainability Report, we have made strong progress across each of our key pillars under of ‘Change for Better’ framework:

 

weetabix_sustainability-report_2020_Icons-01

SUSTAINABLE INGREDIENTS

We’ve received 100% sustainable cocoa certification from UTZ for all the cocoa we use across our product range

 

weetabix_sustainability-report_2020_Icons-02

LOW-IMPACT PACKAGING

By summer 2022 we’ll be at 99% recyclable packaging across all our packaging, up from 93% this time last year. We’re actively working on the remaining 1% to hit our 2025 target.

 

weetabix_sustainability-report_2020_Icons-03

EFFICIENT OPERATIONS

Completed Carbon Footprint assessments to create a benchmark for CO2 reduction targets. We’ve also invested in a capex project to capture and reuse water that becomes steam during our manufacturing process. This will save over 1 million litres of water annually.

 

weetabix_sustainability-report_2020_Icons-04

HEALTH & WELLBEING

We’ve discovered breakthrough technology that can deliver 20% further reduction in sugar coating and we’re moving to the product innovation stage. We also provided 3 million breakfasts through Magic Breakfast and Fareshare, and joined Marcus Rashford’s Child Food Poverty Taskforce.

 

We recognise that these goals cannot be achieved in isolation and we are proud of the lasting relationships we have built over the years with our partners from growers and suppliers, to logistics teams and retail customers to ensure that we are working together to tackle the sustainability challenges facing our society and our environment.We have set ambitious sustainability targets for the next 12 months and look forward to reporting on our progress and the positive impact we have achieved.

VIEW AND DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT

View Our 2023 Report

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN...

image-4
Responsible Production
Magic-Breakfast-0319-Ginger-Pixie-Photography-(19-of-51)
Charity Partners
shutterstock_1811622343
Good Nutrition