Greencore is one of the UK’s leading convenience food businesses, employing over 28,000 colleagues at 36 sites and 21 distribution depots across the UK and USA. They produce more than 4,200 different products every day, spanning over 30 product categories and supply some of the most successful retail and food service customers in the UK.
Challenge
Greencore's sustainability strategy is the “Better Future Plan” and it is central to their ambition to build a future-fit business that creates positive impact for people and the planet. Water stewardship is a key part of that commitment, with clear targets in place to reduce water consumption across their manufacturing and logistics operations.
Delivering those ambitions relies on equipping colleagues with the knowledge, skills and confidence to identify opportunities for improvement at site level. To support this, Greencore colleagues participated in the accredited Water Stewardship Programme, delivered by 20FIFTY Partners, in partnership with Business Stream.
Beginning with a pilot at their Boston Salads site, the programme was subsequently expanded to additional sites through support from Yorkshire Water and United Utilities, enabling colleagues across the business to deepen their understanding of water use, strengthen local ownership and identify practical opportunities to improve efficiency.
As part of the programme, Greencore colleagues worked alongside Business Stream and 20FIFTY Partners to develop site-specific Water Stewardship Charters, focused on three key objectives:
Amanda Grainger, Safety, Health and Environment Adviser at Greencore's Manton Wood site, said: "Water efficiency was already an important focus for us as a business, but the Water Stewardship Programme helped strengthen our knowledge, challenge our thinking and accelerate the progress we were already making."
The charters established water reduction targets ranging from 2.5% to 10% across participating sites and identified more than 82 actions to help improve operational efficiency and support Greencore's long-term water reduction ambitions.
Solution
The 12-week programme combined training, mentoring and practical action planning, helping participants better understand how water is used across their operations and where opportunities existed to reduce water wastage.
Colleagues gained a deeper understanding of water consumption, costs and efficiency opportunities, while learning how to interpret water data, analyse bills and develop site water maps to support decision-making. The programme resulted in a series of practical initiatives across the business, including:
• At Greencore Manton Wood, teams switched to pre-washed vegetables and herbs, helping to reduce water, labour and chemical usage. The site also invested in reverse osmosis technology for boiler water, increasing opportunities for water reuse.
• At Greencore Kiveton, improvements included the installation of push-down taps, replacement of high-pressure hoses and the introduction of localised water meters to improve visibility of water consumption and identify further savings opportunities.
• At Manton 110 Logistics, four AMR (automated meter reading) meters were installed across its largest water users, providing detailed data at 15-minute intervals, with plans to roll out a further six meters across the estate.
The learning was applied beyond manufacturing environments. At Manton 110 Logistics, colleagues used the programme to strengthen sustainability communications, improve water monitoring and identify previously unchallenged billing issues.
Wendy Upton, Facilities Management Technician, said: "The programme gave me a much better understanding of the bigger picture, both within our business and the wider community."
Result
The Water Stewardship Programme has delivered significant benefits across participating sites, helping to reduce water consumption, improve operational efficiency and strengthen colleague engagement.
Amanda Grainger said: "By working together as a site team, implementing the learning from the programme and collaborating with colleagues across Greencore, we've embedded water stewardship firmly into our business."
Peter Olawore, SHE Adviser, said: "The programme helped me understand not just water use on site, but the wider role water stewardship plays in our communities and environment."
A common theme across all participating sites has been the shift from water stewardship being viewed as a specialist activity to becoming a shared responsibility. Through practical actions, greater awareness and stronger local ownership, colleagues have made water stewardship part of everyday decision-making.
Greencore is now continuing to roll out the Water Stewardship Programme across its wider business, with 14 of its sites already represented and further places planned as the business continues to grow.