Our Environmental Pledges
It’s not just the logo that is green. At GA we are committed to earth-friendly manufacturing and minimal environmental impact. Which is why we have set ourselves these 10 environmental pledges.
We will conserve and reduce non-renewable natural resources through efficient use and careful planning. GA will continue to conserve and improve its local ecology. We will protect our wildlife habitats and preserve the biodiversity of our lands.
We will reduce, recover and reuse all possible available energy, in order to maximise the energy efficiency and energy conservation of our operations.
BIBAs Green Business Award Winner 2019
The BIBAS are “Be Inspired Business Awards Lancashire”. They are the largest and longest-running business awards programme in Lancashire.
It gives me great pleasure to announce that GA Pet Food Partners won the BIBAS awards 2019 for the Green Business of the Year. This was because of the important wastewater treatment, odour abatement, recycling, energy efficiency and ecological work that the team and all colleagues at GA contribute towards to have minimal impact on our environment. This was achieved by our colleagues putting waste in correct bins to the running of the Wastewater Treatment Works, as well as GA’s commitments to future water recycling, energy generation, zero waste to landfill by 2025 and zero carbon emissions by 2050.
David Colgan
Environmental and Energy Manager
20,000 trees and shrubs planted
We’ve planted 20,000 trees and shrubs across our site in 2016 to 2020 alone. We’ve also improved the riverbank areas surrounding the site and created wetland areas to increase biodiversity, ecology and wildlife. In addition, we have implemented numerous bat and bird boxes.
We recycle and reuse all of our water on-site via our two wastewater treatment works.
Our on-site recycling plant works meticulously to separate cardboard, plastic, metal, paper and all other recyclable materials. Today, 98% of all waste generated on-site is recycled. Tomorrow, we are aiming for 100%.
We have invested £9 million in our state-of-the-art odour abatement system, which has resulted in a significant reduction in all odours. This is achieved with our five large bio-beds that scrub the air clean before releasing it back into the atmosphere.
Community Engagement
A partnership has been set up between GA and Bretherton Endowed C of E Primary School to invest in the local community and provide educational site visits, with pupils recently attending the site on a 'pet food design day'. GA donated 100 bags of pet food for pupils to design the packaging and labelling.
Environmental site visits have also been undertaken during which pupils learnt how GA operates sustainably in order to have the lowest environmental impact possible. Working closely with Bretherton Endowed C of E Primary School and other schools in the local area has been a wonderful opportunity for GA to connect with the local community.
Amy Mee, HR Manager, meeting primary school pupils at Bretherton C of E Primary School, where she held a workshop and competition for the pupils to design their own bag of pet food, and then took them on a tour of our Manufacturing facilities at Plocks Farm.
As well as our local community, we are proud to sponsor local and national charities such as Cancer Research UK, Macmillan Cancer Support and Derian House Children’s Hospice.