First Milk invests £5m to boost factories’ green infrastructure

Dairy company First Milk is aiming for a 65% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 by investing £5m into boost capacity at its various factories.

They hope this will allow them to meet the various environmental goals they have set for themselves, as announced by CEO Shelagh Hancock and CFO Greg Jardine.

Following the announcement of their latest annual Hancock said the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic had not hampered their investment plans.

He said: “We have got significant investment plans happening this year at our Lake District Creamers and a Haverfordwest and they are really important for us because we have seen demand continue to grow.

“Our investment is multi-purpose, partly around capacity and continuing to grow with our customer and very much around our efficiency and sustainability.”

Jardine said: “We’re going to continue to invest at the same level as we did last year. We spent just over £5m and the investment this year that’s planned is going to spend a further £5m, moving from investing in the plant at Haverfordwest to the one in the Lake District.”

The company’s annual statement for the previous financial year reported an 11% year-on-year reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and both Hancock and Jardine outlined some of the investment in this area.

Hancock added: “In terms of emissions reduction, it’s really about general efficiency and energy efficiency.

Many of our programs would be around introducing things such as combined heat and power to reduce energy consumption. We have a new investment this year in our Wales creamery, which will again continue down these same lines as we continue making improvements.”

Jardine added: “A lot of those reductions are because we are investing in some new kit. At Haverfordwest last year, we put in a new cheese tower and we started investment towards a new combined heat and power plant, which we plan to finish this year.

“At the Lake District Creamery, we already one, but some of the investments in terms such as new duplex pasteurisers are again more energy efficient which will help us improve and hit our targets.”

The company’s targets for a 65% net reduction by 2025 will be aided by a 40% relative reduction in energy use and a 30% reduction in water use.

Hancock said they had achieved considerable progress across a range of green targets over the past decade, reflecting the “Dairy Roadmap,” a series of plans the dairy industry had been committed to for at least 12 years.

First Milk additionally launched its First4Milk Pledge back in March, encouraging its members to commit fully to eco-friendly lifestyles, particularly in three areas: people, animals and the earth.

While not all of the dairy cooperative’s farmer members had signed up, Hancock added that as many as 80% had and were rigidly sticking to its guidelines.

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