Recognition for Our Environmental Work

The Wild Meat Company is delighted to have received a Silver award from the Suffolk Carbon Charter in recognition of our commitment to minimising our energy use and carbon emissions. From the outset, environmental sustainability has always been a priority for us. If you’d like to know more about the many ways we strive to protect our planet, read on!

Sustainable game

Our passion for sustainability and protecting the environment drives everything we do at the Wild Meat Company.

Here in Suffolk, there is an abundance of wild game, including venison, pigeon, rabbit and squirrel. Without management, numbers of these species would spiral, negatively impacting on woodlands, crops and other wildlife. Culls are essential, which is why wild game is a truly sustainable meat source. We’re here to encourage more people to enjoy the flavour and nutritional benefits of game on a regular basis. There’s no more shying away from the impact that intensive meat farming is having on our environment. Reports about the greenhouse gas emissions associated with beef, lamb and pork in particular are now regular features in the media. If meat is imported from overseas the carbon footprint is even greater. By enabling people to eat eco-friendly game more often instead of as much farmed meat, we’re helping to protect our atmosphere for future generations.

The Suffolk Carbon Charter

The Suffolk Carbon Charter is awarded to organisations that have successfully implemented measures to manage and reduce their energy use, leading to clear reductions in carbon emissions. Congratulating us on our achievement, the panel said they were impressed with our Environmental Policy, and how well it is communicated. They were also impressed with our use of alternative packing materials and our work with the Country Foods Trust to reduce waste food.

Saving energy

We have taken many steps to reduce our energy consumption and the greenhouse gas emissions we produce as a business, including actively managing our refrigeration. We also time our heating to reflect occupancy and have significantly reduced our business mileage in the past two years through a range of actions. We’re not stopping here, though. We’re striving to reduce our carbon footprint by a further 5% by April 2020 by exploring new and innovative practices. Watch this space!

Wool packaging

We worked hard to find an environmentally-friendly solution for delivering our fresh products. The vast majority of orders are now packaged in a recyclable cardboard box insulated with a recyclable wool liner. These high-performance insulated boxes are sourced from Woolcool and have been rigorously tested to ensure they keep food products within the temperature ranges required by the Food Standards Agency. They are hygienic, sustainable, recyclable, compostable and biodegradable! This makes them much environmentally friendly than alternatives such as polystyrene.

Wool is a truly amazing natural smart fibre, with a complex structure and natural properties that cope with extremes of cold and heat. The fibres are hygroscopic, which means they absorb and release moisture, a natural thermostat that maintains stable temperatures. Wool is also highly sustainable, being available in abundance as a by-product of sheep farming.

Wool is fully compostable and biodegradable, releasing valuable nitrates back into the soil. Meanwhile, the MDPE film used to enclose the wool fleece is recyclable at local authority waste depots along with our recycled cardboard delivery boxes.

We also encourage our customers to reuse our boxes and wool packaging. Take a look at our social media pages for ideas from our customers, including as cosy DIY pet beds!

The Country Food Trust

The Carbon Charter Panel made a special mention of our work with the Country Food Trust, which is helping to reduce waste food. The Country Food Trust uses game donations from organised shoots to produce nourishing, balanced meals for people living in poverty. When supply is greater than demand for pheasant and partridge, this ensures that surplus birds are not wasted, instead forming the basis of a tasty and much-need meal for homeless and vulnerable people.

The Wild Meat Company has supported the Country Food Trust since its launch by making their ready-to-eat game casseroles and curries available in our Pantry. For every meal sold, the Trust donates one to someone in need. In December, the Country Food Trust Initiative was launched to unite local shoots, game dealers and charities to use game to feed people in local areas. We were delighted to extend our support to the CFT’s new initiative by donating prepared pheasant supplied by local Suffolk shoots.

Find out more

If you’d like to read more about us, what we do and how we do it, visit our About Us pages. You can also call us on 01728 687627 or send us a message via our contact form.

You can also use the contact form to send us any ideas you have for reusing our boxes and wool liners or share your pictures with us via our Facebook page, Twitter or Instagram.