I am currently working with Vandemoortele to implement an Environmental Management System with the intention of gaining certification to ISO 14001:2015 later this year.

Vandemoortele are a food manufacturing company based in Belgium with a production plant near Worcester which supplies unbaked frozen dough products made from puff, Danish and shortcrust pastry to a wide range of retail and wholesale customers. The site is custom built and operates 24hrs a day with a 3 shift pattern and produces 35 million pastry products a year. I have found the production process fascinating – I do a lot of baking but have never seen 1 Tonne of marzipan on a pallet before!

I have carried out a gap analysis of existing management systems and information against the requirements of ISO 14001:2015 and I have also completed a waste map detailing all the waste streams and their treatment and ultimate destination. This involved several site walkarounds and follow up research with Vandemoortele staff as well as phone, internet and use of the Environment Agency public registers to confirm all the stages of the waste management process.

We are currently working on producing an aspects and impacts register and have used the eco-mapping technique of examining the existing site plans and process maps to identify environmental aspects at each stage of the production process as well as considering support functions such as maintenance and outsourced processes such as distribution and the laundry for the workwear.

And of course, the advantage of working with a puff pastry factory is that you do get to sample the products, the raspberry and apple lattice is a particular favourite of mine…