In 2008 the Cupar plant was responsible for sending 766 tonnes of waste to landfill which was 25% of our total and 40% of our manufacturing total. In line with our environmental commitments, Cupar was set the target of reducing the amount of waste it sent to landfill by 75% in 2009. In October this year, the Cupar sustainability team reported they had succeeded in surpassing their target and that the plant no longer sends any waste to landfill.

Of the waste now generated by the plant, 76% is sent to animal feed and the rest are recyclables such as cardboard, metal and plastic. In order to prevent any waste from going to landfill, the Cupar sustainability team introduced numerous internal systems that regulated the amount and type of waste produced and trained our employees accordingly.

To engender a more holistic approach to waste management, the Cupar site moved from separate contractors for different types of waste to one single contractor who was able to advise on how best to reduce overall waste levels. We have waste marshalls on shift responsible for waste removal who ensure that different types of recyclables are separated into the relevant skips. A company was also found who could compost food waste from the staff canteen.

In addition to preventing any site waste from going to landfill, the Cupar plant also recycled 1900 tonnes of waste by the end of November this year.

Quaker's progress in this area is in line with its previous environmental achievements - in October this year we reported that Quaker would be switching more of its freight from road to rail, preventing over 300,000 road miles a year.

PIUK is committed to making its entire business environmentally sustainable - as outlined in our first Environmental Sustainability Report (published 2008) and our Update Report (published 2009). In addition to our Cupar plant achieving zero waste to landfill, many of our other sites have also stopped sending any waste to landfill:

• Coventry (Squares, Doritos, Sunbites & French Fries)
• Lincoln (Quakers & Sensations)
• Skelmersdale (Walkers, Walkers Baked, Snack-a-Jacks & Monster Munch)
• Southern Region Distribution Centre

Sites in bold recently achieved zero waste to landfill