Challenge
With more than 1,700 shops and 20,000 employees, Greggs is a firm favourite on many high streets, retail parks and shopping centres across the UK. Every week, millions of customers enjoy Greggs' offering, which includes everything from their traditional sausage rolls to Balanced Choice sandwiches and salads, sweet treats and freshly-ground coffee. With a 'daily-fresh’ approach to sandwich making and savoury baking, managing waste is a priority for Greggs. It’s vital that the 21,000 waste collections Greggs requires every month run smoothly. And, being a responsible business, it’s just as important that Greggs minimises its impact on the environment. Half-baked solutions simply don’t cut it.
The geographical scope of Greggs’ business - particularly on the retail side - creates complex operational challenges, and requires innovative solutions. “A large part of our retail estate is made up of small shops in difficult-to-access locations, which can create a lot of issues,” said Ally Stephenson, Purchasing Manager, Greggs, who awarded Biffa an extension to its contract last year. We have limited storage space both inside and outside our shops so a missed collection can cause immediate issues. It needs fine management to keep those services running smoothly.”
But Gregg’s requirements go beyond the smooth running of its day-to-day collections. As a responsible business with a clear focus on the environment, it sets itself important green goals, including 100% of waste in the supply chain being diverted from landfill.
Solution
The Biffa team have helped Greggs come up with innovative solutions to meet and exceed targets, including better segregation of waste across the business, and the addition of anaerobic digestion (AD) to the mix. Anaerobic digestion offers a clever solution to the issue of food waste, by converting it into heat, power and fertiliser.
With Biffa’s support, Greggs has already exceeded its supply chain target and is continuing to improve its results on the retail side. A flourishing spirit of partnership has helped the relationship move beyond the operational into a more consultative space, where Biffa regularly support Greggs on ways to reduce its environmental impact and cut costs.