Macsween, guardians of Scotland’s national dish, are widely renowned for their traditional haggis and black puddings and, within the industry, they are also known for their environmental credentials.  Over the years Macsween have managed to reduce their relative energy and water use, divert significant proportions of their waste from landfill and implement an ethical sourcing policy. In early June 2011 Sustainable Food & Drink (SFD) caught up with James Macsween (Director) to find what makes environmental initiatives a high priority at Macsween.

SFD: What has driven you to look at environmental initiatives?

James Macsween (JM):  At Macsween we not only believe that minimising our environmental impact is the right thing to do, we also believe that it presents a unique opportunity to maximise the value from the resources and utilities we purchase and any waste we produce.

If you found a 5p coin on the floor would you pick it up?  I would, and for us cutting waste and wastage is similar to picking a 5p coin from the floor, because our waste has an inherent value which we try to realise.

SFD: When and why did you start to look at environmental initiatives?

JM: In 1996 when we moved to our purpose built facilities, we were surprised by the amount we were paying for water and waste water, because in our former premises, a butcher shop in Bruntsfield, these costs were not significant.  As we were exploring ways to reduce our water and waste water costs, we also started looking into ways to reduce our energy consumption and, with the introduction of the Landfill Tax, also the amount of waste we produce and send to landfill. 

SFD: What have you been focusing on?

JM:  Although we’ve been working on reducing our energy and water consumption, our recent focus has been on becoming a zero waste company, which we’ll hopefully achieve by autumn 2011 from the current 90% diversion.

We’ve been working hard to cut our waste costs (which for us was the good part of £70/tonne). Now some waste is collected for free, because it gets recycled,  and some of our waste actually generates an income stream which we use to offset our other waste management costs.

SFD: So how do you go about implementing environmental initiatives?

JM: We have an ongoing process, which involves our workforce to identify opportunities and implement initiatives. We also access environmental advice and support from funded programmes.

We knew that with the right help we’d be able to make a big impact so we decided to make the most of the free environmental support available:

• We’ve had energy audits and advice from the Energy Savings and Carbon Trusts. We installed a more efficient cooking method and lighting, timers and movement sensors and our energy consumptions fallen. As a result the energy intensity of a 1lb of haggis has fallen by 20% and our overall gas use dropped by 15%.
• We’ve had resource audits from Envirowise [now part of Zero Waste Scotland] that helped us characterise our waste and reduce the amount sent to landfill. We now have colour-coded signs and bins throughout our factory to help us segregate our different waste streams for recycling and composting. Our water use also fell by 30%.
• The Green Business Partnership and their Environmental Placement Programme to evaluate the potential for using rainwater for flushing toilets and washing food soiled plastics (the last hurdle to our zero waste aspirations), assess the scope for meeting some our energy needs using a biomass boiler and improve our environmental management systems by reviewing data collation arrangements throughout the different business units. Whilst neither rainwater harvesting nor the biomass boiler were feasible at the time, improving our approach data collation enabling us to develop a holistic understanding of resource use and wastage throughout the business.
• With help from our waste contractors, we now receive an income from waste fats and oils, plastic and cardboard, which are all recycled. 

Also, to measure our success and prioritise new initiatives, I log our energy and water consumption whenever a bill comes in and our waste contractors provide data on the amount of waste we landfill, recycle or compost. I analyse these in relation to our manufacturing output.

SFD: How do you find time to do all this?

JM:  I don’t find time, I make time.  Controlling our costs, like for most businesses, is an important priority so we track our energy use and waste arisings on a monthly basis. It’s an ongoing, integral part of how we manage our business and it gives us an alternative perspective of how well we’re doing. 

SFD: In 2008 you started publishing an environmental report. What instigated that?

JM:  By 2008 we felt we’d achieved quite a lot. We’d managed to divert 70% of our waste away from landfill, reduced the water used to manufacture our products by 13% and stabilized our energy consumption despite increasing our output. So we thought it was time to recognise our efforts and let our stakeholders know about our ongoing environmental commitments.

SFD: Have there been any unexpected surprises as a result of your environmental initiatives?

JM:  In 2008 we received Vision in Business for the Environment of Scotland (VIBES) Award for Best Management of a Small Business and subsequently our efforts have been recognised by a bunch of other awards. 

Another benefit was that our environmental credentials (documented in our environmental report) helped us secure a £400,000 for our new packing facility from the Scottish Government's Food Processing and Co-operation scheme in 2009.

SFD: What’s next for Macsween?

JM: In the long to medium-term, once we become a zero waste company, which we hope to become by the autumn 2011, we will focus on cutting our waste water charges by cleaning up our effluent and we have already identified a couple of companies that may be able to help us with this.  In the short-term we’ll be publishing a new Sustainability Report, which we hope will be out in a couple of months, towards the end of summer 2011.

SFD: Do you have any advice to other food and drink manufacturers?

JM:  Cutting waste and wastage is a common sense way for cutting costs and it’s incredible how much help is out there: from funded programmes to waste contractors. I’d encourage everyone to take as much advantage from these sources as possible. It’s easier to be proactive about cutting costs than reactive.