Last night Olleco was a finalist at the prestigious Guardian Sustainable Business Awards. Attended by the top green companies in the country, we beat off stiff competition from the likes of Unilever Supply Chain Company AG and Veolia to be crowned the winners of the Waste Innovation award.
Official press release:
Olleco, the renewable energy division of ABP Food Group and the largest organic waste collector in the UK, has been awarded the Waste category in this year’s Guardian Sustainable Business Awards. Celebrating the success of the company’s new Liverpool recycling centre, the award recognises the innovative biodiesel plant powered by the outputs of Anaerobic Digestion.
The organic recycling initiative provides a circular solution to the problem of waste produced by the food manufacturing, catering and hospitality sector, with the complex project being designed on the basis of a simple concept - Olleco collects and reuses the waste food and used cooking oils and fats from its 50,000 food industry customers. This means that some customers can now run their fleets on the same oil they cooked their chips in! It is this simple yet innovative approach to an age-old industry problem – teamed with exceptionally high standards - that has seen the company celebrated at such a prestigious national award ceremony.
Adam Baisley, Commercial Director at Olleco, commented on the successful evening and the company’s unique offering: “Here at Olleco, and indeed ABP, we are passionate about driving technology to generate tangible solutions for our customers and the wider industry. This truly industry leading recycling centre is revolutionising food waste across the food manufacturing, catering and hospitality sectors, and is already used by a number of major national customers to run their distribution fleets. It’s excellent to see this commitment recognised by those in the know.”
Adam continued: “Our recycling facility in Liverpool cleverly uses the waste food we collect to produce renewable heat and power, which in turn - via our conversion technology - generates first class biodiesel that constantly meets the strict EU specification (EN 14214) from the used oils and fats we collect. It’s a great example of a successful circular economic model; the final product saves more than 95% Greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels – providing all industry sectors across the UK with an opportunity to embrace a sustainable and cost effective fuel.”
As a group of businesses, ABP has ambitious targets for the reduction of carbon, waste and water usage – targets it is already well on track to realising as proven by achieving the Carbon Trust Triple Standard - one of only a handful of companies to achieve such an accreditation. The Group’s sustainability agenda is called ‘Doing More With Less’, which encompasses the Group’s targets for reductions in carbon output, water and energy usage as well as waste going to landfill.
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