We recognise that there is no “overnight solution” but have an ongoing commitment to making our business more sustainable. We were delighted to be awarded the Green Wholesaler of the Year 2019 Award in recognition of the work we have done and our future plans.

Energy saving
Dunsters Farm has worked hard over the last few years to focus on our objective to fulfil our environmental responsibility. For example, we have upgraded our lighting throughout the depot to low energy LED lighting. Additionally, we have reviewed our energy supply and currently work with an energy company who use offshore wind farms to provide renewable energy to our site at Waterfold Park. Furthermore, we are proud that our own label water is produced at the only facility in the UK soft drinks industry that is fully operated from green energy produced on site using solar panels and wind turbines.

Efficient transportation
The use of vehicles is essential for our delivery business, however we have invested heavily in software to ensure fuel efficiency and monitor key indicators such as idling.

We backhaul from six suppliers currently, avoiding vehicles returning empty and saving another vehicle being put on the road unnecessarily.

Our fleet of delivery vehicles are all Euro 5 engine powered and use Ad Blue to reduce harmful emissions.

Our sales team look to reduce business travel where they can and make good use of the remote server we invested in five years ago to allow them to work remotely, reducing the need to travel into the office on a daily basis.

We are registered for the Cycle2Work scheme, a number of staff walk or use public transport to travel to and from work and we have three electric vehicles within our fleet.

Over the past 12 months Dunsters Farm has introduced an environmentally friendly non-food range and are proud to work with suppliers who value sustainability and work to reduce the impact of their manufacturing processes on the environment.

Waste Management 
Staff have been working hard to reduce the amount of waste produced on a day to day basis; emailing rather than printing wherever possible and printing double sided and in black and white are just some ways in which this has been done. A key example here has been the introduction of the voice pick system, allowing us to save a massive 84,000 sheets of paper per year!

Our warehouse team have also been busy looking to re-sell products where the packaging has been damaged at discounted prices and working with local charities such as The Real Junk Food Project Manchester and Sandwich Angels to ensure our inevitable food waste goes to good use.

More recently, we set a target of introducing new recycling initiatives throughout the depot. For example, we are working with Terracycle to recycle crisp packets, old pens and even cigarette waste! All the waste collected is made into useful products or composted, nothing goes to landfill.

Social Awareness 
We are also proud to have been able to donate a piece of land to the Life for Life charity who have created an amazing memorial forest where people can plant trees in remembrance of their loved ones. The money raised is then donated back to local hospices and other healthcare organisations.

For more information, please email info@dunstersfarm.com