Greggs : signs Waste to Wealth Commitment at Summit attended by HRH The Prince of Wales

Greggs has signed the Waste to Wealth Commitment at the Waste to Wealth Summit, an event held by Business in the Community - The Prince's Responsible Business Network. 200 leaders from business, government, academia and civil society gathered at the event to tackle the challenges of climate change and the destruction of natural habitats by committing to actions in a Waste to Wealth Commitment. The Commitment will help collectively double the nation's resource productivity and reduce avoidable waste by 2030 (supercharging the UK Industrial Strategy's 2050 targets).

Greggs is one of over 40 Waste to Wealth Commitment signatories, demonstrating its continuing action to further reduce environmental impact and show leadership in this area. Greggs has reduced its carbon intensity by 25%from 2010 - 2015 and is on target to reduce by a further 10% by 2020. All of Greggs operations are certified to ISO14001:2015 for its Environmental Management System and its internal supply chain already diverts 100% of waste away from landfill. Greggs is also trialling a number of initiatives to reduce unnecessary plastic within its retail environment.

Roger Whiteside, Chief Executive at Greggs, said:

'We love that our customers care about the environment, and so do we. That's why we're committed to doing all we can to help tackle the challenges of climate change and are proud signatories of the Waste to Wealth Commitment.

'Social responsibility forms the bedrock of our business and to this end, we already have rigorous targets in place toensure we manage any environmental impact from our operations. We look forward to working collectively with other organisations to really supercharge all of our efforts in this area and make a positive impact together.'

The event was attended by the HRH The Prince of Wales where he delivered a keynote address. The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, also delivered a speech in which he detailed how the government will support businesses which are stepping up to this challenge.

By signing the Waste to Wealth Commitment, we recognise the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) conclusion from October 2018 that we only have 12 years to change our relationship with the resources we use to avoid catastrophic climate change and restore the health of our environment. The Waste to Wealth Commitment signatories are committing to the following actions:

1. Set targets to improve the productivity of resources that are key for our business.
2. Work collectively towards doubling the nation's resource productivity and reduce avoidable waste by 2030, contributing in the way that is most relevant to their business.
3. Redesignhow resources are used in our products, services and operations.
4. Collaborate across our organisations, value chains and sectors.
5. Reconvene and reporton progress annually to share learning and demonstrate results.

Gudrun Cartwright, environment director at Business in the Community, said:

'Greggs has demonstrated leadership and commitment to tackle systemic challenges by signing up to the Waste to Wealth Commitment.

'2030 is a critical year if we are to ensure we have an environment in which business and communities can flourish. The risks of inaction are enormous, but so too are the opportunities that could be created from a prosperous and resilient, low carbon economy. We must make the most out of precious resources, waste as little as possible and find ways of turning the waste we do create into new wealth.

'We welcome other organisations to sign up to the Waste to Wealth Commitment and take action to solve this critical problem.'