30 September 2010 | Isabel Palmer

The purchasing function has played a central role and achieved sensational results in Allied Bakeries’ carbon reduction initiative

CATEGORY: Best contribution to corporate responsibility

After undergoing a transformation process, the procurement team at Allied Bakeries impressed the judges with their project to reduce the company’s carbon footprint “from farm to toaster”. Judges said the way the team transformed ideas into reality was an inspiration.

With a supply chain of thousands of contractors, procurement realised that its role was key to the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy.

The team began to drive and develop environmental, sustainable, ethical, health and safety strategies for Allied Bakeries. They needed to define metrics for supplier compliance, so they set about applying best-practice procurement across the business, which led in turn to engaging with highly empowered stakeholders.

In the process they helped the business gain a competitive advantage by becoming the first bread company with Carbon Trust labelling, which won positive press attention. The labelling appears on each loaf of bread sold and the company has committed to continue cutting CO2 emissions to retain certification.

Another aim was to raise awareness of environmental impact, both within the company and throughout the supply chain. Procurement undertook a host of innovative initiatives. One was upgrading its fleet of HGVs with more efficient vehicles that use less fuel. Another was producing smaller loaves to avoid food waste. When research showed that many consumers fail to finish a loaf of bread before its use-by date, procurement successfully lobbied the EU Parliament to remove the regulation that bread had to be made in 400g increments. The Little Big Loaf was introduced last year and has enjoyed strong sales.

The company has also signed up to the Courtauld Commitment to reduce packaging and food waste, and modify its production process to cut emissions. It now uses recycled materials to make the bread baskets used to carry bread from the bakery to supermarket shelves.

On the sensitive issue of palm oil, the company is involved with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and is set to implement a sustainable solution to its sourcing process this year.

One of the most impressive achievements is how far procurement has come. Just 18 months ago, purchasing barely registered as relevant to the firm’s CSR strategy whereas now it is a key pillar.

Also on the short list

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena; HMRC and the Home Office; Interserve; Newmont Ghana Gold; Premier Foods