Jan 5 2011 --- Arla Foods is the first major dairy company in the UK to achieve zero waste to landfill throughout the entire UK business, including all its sites. Through maximising recycling, the company has taken another step towards reaching its environmental targets and achieving its Closer to Nature ambition.

With over 90 per cent of site waste being recycled, Arla now has no waste going directly to landfill. The remaining waste is either recovered or will be processed into a high grade refuse derived fuel (RDF) - a pulverised waste that can be used to produce energy.

The achievement is a big step towards helping Arla reach its goal of reducing its carbon impact by 34 per cent by 2020. It was also a key target in the company’s wider environmental strategy, launched this year, which addresses the whole supply chain from farm through to consumer.

Lars Dalsgaard, business group director of supply chain at Arla, said: “This is an enormous achievement for us and a great success on which to end 2011. Colleagues across all our sites are very aware of the company’s sustainability responsibilities, and have been working hard to help us reduce our environmental impact.

Richard Laxton, sustainability manager at Arla, said: “In addition to reducing waste at our sites, we also contribute surplus product to the FareShare scheme. Also, food waste from our dairies and distribution centres is also used to generate biogas and green electricity at off-site anaerobic digestion plants.”

Lars added: “As a company, we’ve made a commitment globally to become the Closer to Nature dairy company, and in 2012 we will continue to concentrate on finding new, innovative methods to reduce our carbon footprint even further.”