ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY

On the Farm

We aim to produce naturally tasty, healthier food grown in a way that enhances the natural habitat and handled in a way that uses a minimum of resources.

The whole farming operation represents a model of Integrated Crop Management.

We monitor insect activity to minimise the use of pesticides, we manage irrigation to limit water use and we employ temperature control rather than chemical gassing to suppress sprouting. We encourage wild flower field margins to protect and encourage wildlife and have adopted a lengthy six-year crop rotation programme to optimise soil health. Our growers are all proud custodians of the land that they farm and are advised by our own highly qualified in-house team.

At the Factory

As a company we aim to steadily reduce our ecological and environmental footprint. We took a major step towards achieving this ambition in November 2003 with the opening of our state-of-the-art factory in Airdrie, Scotland.
This new facility was designed and built with the environment in mind. And over 25,000 trees have been planted on this 56 acre brownfield site.
Modern energy and building management systems enable us to tightly control our consumption of electricity, gas and water.
70% of the water used in the potato washing process is rainwater harvested from the roof with the remaining 30% being provided by our own borehole.
All our sites have comprehensive recycling programmes, not only for card, plastic and food waste, but also for organic and conventional used water and soil. No industrial waste leaves our factories for landfill.

Scottish Wildlife Trust

Albert Bartletts is a corporate member of the Scottish Wildlife Trust – the largest charity working exclusively for the protection of all of Scotland’s wildlife. With a membership of over 33,000, SWT directly manages over 124 wildlife reserves across Scotland (from highland estates to urban greenspaces), they encourage partnership working in the wider countryside and lobby on environmental issues at Holyrood and Westminster.

Wind Turbine Project

Planning permission has been granted for us to install a 2 megawatt wind turbine at the Airdrie Site. This will supply the entire energy requirements for the packhouse. North Lanarkshire Council planning committee have recently granted 25-year consent for a 126 metre turbine. The wind turbine will generate 2MW of electricity meeting all our electricity needs. Our turbine is being put up to off set our impact upon the environment and to make us more efficient and more competitive.

Work is expected to commence in the spring of 2010.