Being family run, means we can do things differently. We make our sausages & burgers in small batches right here on our farm in Yorkshire.
PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT.
OUR COMMITMENT TO WASTE REDUCTION, RE-USE AND RECYCLING.
We are always thinking of new, more sustainable ways to pack our products. We have explored compostable options, but any packaging which has contained raw meat are contaminated, and so are not suitable for composting. We use clear plastic trays rather than black trays as these are fully recyclable and have been made from 90% recycled plastic. The cardboard sleeve (and ink) is both recyclable and suitable for home composting. Our meat free sausages no longer have an outer sleeve which reduces the amount of packaging needed. The sticker on the Meat-Free range is 100% recyclable and there’s no need to try remove this from the tray. The film, which is heat-sealed over the top of all our trays, makes our products fit for health and safety and can also be fully recycled if you keep it attached to the tray. The material is so light in weight, that if removed then it will not be processed through recycling systems properly. The cardboard for our SRP & FSC from suppliers is 100% recycled.
In 2022 we reduced our plastic intensity by 50 Tonnes, saving 175 Tonnes of CO2 a year.
We run a ‘LEAN’ factory operation, minimising waste to below 0.5%.
We have now measured the carbon footprint for all our core products. You will find these scores on back of pack and on our website. We’ve done this to help consumers understand how much carbon they consume so they can make conscious choices about what they buy & eat. It also means we can aim to reduce each score by making production more efficient and both purchasing and packaging more sustainable going forward. We have already managed to reduce some of the scores in the past couple of years through packaging and recipe alterations. We always try to source our ingredients as local as possible, with most coming from the UK, however there’s always room for improvement.
We only use British meat, meaning less food miles and proudly supporting British farmers.
All our products are 100% soya and palm oil free.
We no longer have a separate site for our veggie products. We have managed to create a separate production area here at our main Heck HQ which has reduced transport and improved efficiency. Communication is much stronger being under one roof.
HECK PLAN TO REDUCE THEIR ENERGY USE.
We have measured our Scope 1,2 & 3 for Green House Gas emissions. We now need to continue to do this each year and have set targets to reduce our emissions. We have already made a 24% reduction in the past year. We are working up our SBTi but provisionally our aim is to have reduced our Scope 1 and 2 Emissions by 50% by 2025 and 100% by 2030, compared to our 2020 Base level.
In the new year we are installing solar panels on the roof of our factory. This renewable energy will be responsible for 20% of the power in our factory/offices - running the machines, fridge/freezers and lightbulbs etc. This will save over 55 tons of CO2 which is the equivalent of 28,000kg of coal burned! We hope to give any excess power generated over the weekends back to the grid.