Noble Foods

Zest Recycle has been working with Noble Foods for over five years, helping to ensure that waste generated from their food production operations is managed in line with their sustainability principles so that where practical, all waste is treated as a resource for recovery.

Zest Recycle

Background

Noble Foods is a leading supplier of fresh dairy brands to major retailers and consumers. Since their inception in 1920, they have prospered and grown to incorporate a number of well-known food brands, including Big & Fresh, Gu Puds, and the Happy Egg Co.

Zest Recycle has been working with Noble Foods for over five years, helping to ensure that waste generated from their food production operations is managed in line with their sustainability principles so that where practical, all waste is treated as a resource for recovery.

Zest Recycle currently manages the waste at four locations for Noble Foods including the main egg packing site in Gainsborough, where over 60 million eggs are individually graded and packed, ready for delivery every week.

Zest Recycle

The Solution

Over the years we have worked with Noble Foods to extract several lines of recycling for recovery, including pulped cardboard egg boxes, cardboard packaging, plastic packaging, eggshell, and cooked eggs. These waste streams are segregated and baled for recycling or sent for processing, with elements of this waste being backhauled from Gainsborough to their site in North Scarle for baling and onward reprocessing.

Noble Foods are achieving 100% recycling rates across many areas of the business particularly relating to the packaging generated from their food production operations. Working with Noble Foods, we are keen to ensure the same standards were applied to other areas of the business such as the office and canteen facilities.

We conducted a full site audit of the Gainsborough site to review the current systems and processes in place in and around the office and canteen areas and identify opportunities for improvement.

It was concluded that there was further scope to take recycling up another gear and a target was set for the site to achieve a minimum of 65% recycling (with the remainder of the waste being egg waste, which is sent for anaerobic digestion) with 15% being generated from the office and canteen areas. To achieve this, it would require a complete change in set up and operational processes, as well as training and an educational awareness program for staff.

The Results

Our new proposition involved a complete review of the existing set-up, introducing a clear, colour-coded container set up to capture paper, plastics, cans, food and general waste from the office, canteen, and plant areas.

In areas such as the canteen and reception areas where space is more generous, containers for the main recycling waste streams were introduced and in the plant areas where space is at a premium, a two-stream set-up was proposed for general waste and DMR, with the bulk of DMR being made up of plastics. Food waste caddies were also proposed for the canteen areas for tea bags and lunch scrapings, with this waste stream to be incorporated into the egg waste for anaerobic digestion.

The new solution achieves a cost saving of 40% compared to the previous set up and improves the consistency of recycling across the business, allowing the client to hit 65% recycling and 100% landfill diversion with the remainder of food waste sent for anaerobic digestion.

"Noble Foods were already achieving excellent recycling results across many areas of the business with the support and guidance from Zest Recycle. However, we were not content to stop there, which is why it was a priority to tackle the non-operational areas of the business and bring the same consistency of recycling across the business. The new system fulfils the goal of achieving 65% recycling with the remainder of waste sent to anaerobic digestion, or Waste to Energy, allowing for a Zero Waste to Landfill solution."

Key Account Director for Zest Recycle

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