At Lakes Ice Cream we are taking steps to reduce our waste. We reuse and recycle where possible in order to actively minimise our environmental impact. We segregate all our recyclable materials (cardboard, glass, paper) from general waste. We also work with our customers to ensure that they understand and comply to often changing legislation with regards to packaging.
We use local suppliers where possible and ensure that any palm oil is sourced responsibly. Our fresh milk and cream deliveries come from a local organic farm (South Lakes Organic). And some of the fruit preparations that we add to our ice cream come from local suppliers such as Lakeland Artisan who are based right here in Kendal. We have collaborated with three, local, award-winning companies to produce new, authentic products including ‘Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding,’ Hawkshead Relish and the Kendal Mint Company. We only use approved suppliers and where we cannot source local ingredients, we ensure that our raw materials are sourced ethically and (where possible) from within Great Britain.
Our packaging is all 100% recyclable and features a green ‘Please recycle’ logo. We work closely with our packaging supplier to ensure that we are up to date with the latest innovations and are planning more positive changes to our packaging including moving away from plastic lids and spoons on our 125ml pots, replacing them with carboard lids and wooden spoons. Eliminating black plastic and seeking to find alternatives to plastic all together in the future.
In our factory and offices, we have cut down significantly on our paper consumption. All of our brochures, pricelists, flyers etc are digital and this is our preferred method of sharing them. We use our email database to stay connected with customers rather than using traditional postage methods. We have our own mobile App so that customers can request their orders more efficiently as well as cutting down on print.
We have changed all of our lighting at our factory to LED bulbs to reduce our energy consumption. These are more energy efficient and last a lot longer. We are also upgrading all machinery across site to newer more efficient versions. If we have any products at the end of their life or surplus stock, we donate this to various charities and food banks.
We are very conscious of our carbon footprint and work hard to keep it to a minimum. We hold a lot of virtual meetings to save on travel and we use a system called delivery web to aid with transport routes. This finds the most efficient routes for our drivers. We have set days for deliveries to particular areas in Cumbria, Lancashire, Cheshire, and Yorkshire in order to keep our mileage economical. All of our delivery vehicles run with Ad Blue which helps to lower the emissions. Our company cars have been switched from diesel to electric.
In the future, as the business expands and we move to a larger premises, we are looking at more modern technologies to reduce our carbon footprint and to introduce renewable energies and materials to the structure of our new building.
