Snacks focus: Green credentials

SO WHAT exactly is the carbon footprint of that bag of smoky bacon?

With crisps and snacks being one of the most popular sectors of the food market it was inevitable that the major brand owners would find themselves the focus of efforts to lessen the impact of manufacture and supply on the environment.

With its newly launched Red Sky range, the Pepsico-owned Walkers business is making an on-pack pledge to preserve an area of rainforest for every bag sold, working with charity Cool Earth.

However, the business has been working to clean up its act for some time. Walkers and the Carbon Trust recently announced the snack supplier had become the first company to retain its Carbon Reduction label, after reducing its carbon footprint by seven per cent. For anyone looking for a great pub quiz question, that corresponds to 6g of CO2e (CO2 equivalent, the internationally recognised measure of greenhouse emissions) per standard bag of crisps.

Walkers became the first consumer brand to display the Carbon Trust's Carbon Reduction Label in 2007, with a commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by three per cent in 2009. In fact, a seven per cent carbon reduction has been achieved through initiatives including:

• Reducing gas and electricity consumption by improving production line efficiencies, introducing new technology such as high-efficiency gas burners and low-energy lighting, and educating employees to be more energy aware
• Reducing the weight of packaging in conjunction with suppliers
• Switching to using only British potatoes to lower food miles
• Training drivers to drive in the most fuel-efficient way
• Running delivery trucks on biodiesel containing five per cent used cooking oil.

The carbon reduction has saved Walkers more than £400,000 over the past two years, which has been reinvested in future energy-saving projects.

Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, said: "Qualifying to keep the Carbon Reduction Label is a real credit to Walkers. It is a result of its commitment to maintaining action on climate change and driving to engage its supply chain to deliver reductions in emissions."

The second-biggest player in the snack market, United Biscuits (UB), saw its carbon emissions drop by three per cent in 2008, and emissions are down 24 per cent in the UK since 1995. This has been achieved through initiatives such as reducing energy used in sites by installing motion sensors for lighting and using more efficient oven burners. UB has also increased its food waste recycling rates in the UK from 97 per cent to 99.5 per cent, and reduced its water use by 17 per cent in 2008.

Packaging, a key component of the snacks industry, has been reduced by 13 per cent since 2003, down 4,700 tonnes in volume terms. This has been achieved through initiatives such as re-engineering multipacks of Hula Hoops to enable them to be packed more efficiently in cardboard cases.

Barry Pamplin, European packaging controller, said: "The change to Hula Hoops multipacks is an example of UB's work to reduce the volume of packaging for its products, thereby reducing the amount of packaging in the waste stream."

Such initiatives do make a difference. Research conducted by Populus in January 2009 shows that knowledge and understanding of the Carbon Reduction Label has increased substantially in the past two years.

Nearly two out of three people, 64 per cent, think that all companies should be reducing carbon, and more than half, 58 per cent, believe the Carbon Reduction Label will raise awareness of the environment impact of what they buy.