A&E White Bakers reduce their Landfill waste by 30%

Demonstrating Good Environmental Management

We identified two areas where we could save money: waste disposal and energy use, we concentrated on the waste aspect first of all because we found we could make savings straight away, without any costs to ourselves.

David White Owner, A&E White Bakers

A third generation, family owned business A&E White produces food for its eight shops in Barnsley and retail chains. The company has reduced their landfill waste (and landfill tax) by 30% through a combination of recycling and donating excess food to a local charity.

Processes

The company is involved with the Green Business Support Organisation Project and has received free advice from Meltzer Consultants, a small environmental consulting agency on how to reduce costs by implementing environmental friendly processes.

Reduce Costs by reducing waste - After an initial consultation with Meltzer Consultants, the company were surprised to learn how much they could save by taking simple steps to reduce their waste.

A&E White Owner David White said "Meltzer identified two areas where we could save money: waste disposal and energy use, we concentrated on the waste aspect first of all because we found we could make savings straight away, without any costs to ourselves".

Recycling cardboard - The bakers were throwing away hundreds of boxes, paper linings and flour sacks every week. This amounted to almost five tonnes of waste per year, waste that could be reused and not deposited in landfill. By simply negotiating with their waste contractor to remove the cardboard and flour sacks separately, A&E Bakers made immediate savings of 20% on their pick up costs and landfill tax.

Donating food waste - In addition to recycling, A&E white arranged for much of their food waste to be delivered to a local food bank, the Crisis Fair Share charity. By donating excess food the company was able to further reduce their waste volumes by 10%

Impact

  • 30% reduction in landfill waste
  • 30% reduction in landfill tax
  • 20% reduction in waste pick up charges
  • In addition to cost savings A&E White have also increased community goodwill as a result of their onging food donations to Crisis Fair Share charity