Tackling mounting energy and waste bills as business grows

• Experts helped SME address energy and waste issues as business grew
• 54 tonnes of waste and 174 tonnes of CO2 equivalent avoided annually
• Led to yearly savings of € 51 000 

Malcolm Allan Ltd is a family business, established in 1954, producing a range of cooked and chilled meats from its premises in Tamfourhill, Falkirk. With an annual turnover of € 12.5 million (£ 11) and 100 employees, the company has experienced recent year-on-year growth of 25 %.

Accompanying this growth was an increase in energy and waste management costs and, unwilling to pass increased costs to customers, the company recognised that it needed to improve its resource-use efficiency. Following a Zero Waste Scotland resource optimisation review, Malcolm Allan Ltd has made improvements in both production processes and packaging use.

The purpose of the review was to help companies like Malcolm Allan cut costs by identifying opportunities to reduce packaging waste, minimising product damage and maximising products sold as prime stock.

Key results

Improvements have helped the company avoid 54 tonnes of waste and 174 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year. Malcolm Allan Ltd has generated € 51 000 (£ 45 000) of savings per annum as a result of introducing only two waste prevention measures in its product and packaging use, following Zero Waste Scotland guidelines.