Broadland Drinks is an independently owned company with a passion for creating drink brands that people love. We specialise in both innovative drinks and quality imported wine, and have an extensive portfolio of both branded and private label products.
Our winery is a highly efficient, 50mL/year, sustainably-powered, BRC Grade AA* certified facility in the UK that makes, ferments and packs wines and drinks, into a variety of formats including bottles, BIBs, pouches, cans and kegs.
Carbon footprint
We have been switching from fossil fuels to renewable electricity for many years, with our latest project, switching to electric fork lift trucks, being completed in 2021. Our current/new project is to eliminate our final fossil fuel usage at our winery by removing the usage of our current boilers by 2025.
All the electricity we use at our winery is renewably sourced electricity.
Staff welfare & progression
As a privately owned company the wellbeing of our team is our top priority. We have an engrained H&S and quality culture. And our focus on creating drinks and brands is designed to give our colleagues opportunities to see ideas and designs come to fruition, to foster feelings of achievement and fulfilment. And we hire and develop “from within” whenever practicable, so colleagues have career development opportunities whenever practicable.
We have a full complement of H&S first aiders, and we plan to train one more mental health first aider by 2023 to increase our number from five to six.
Use of renewables
We currently buy 100% of our electricity from renewable sources, and we plan to replace our remaining fossil fuel usage (our boilers) with renewable energy by 2025.
Waste management & recycling
We plan to continue with our ‘zero waste to landfill’ policy which we run with our waste broker. We pre-sort our waste on site as it can be recycled – glass, plastic and card. General waste is further sorted at a MRF with any residues to be used as a refuse derived fuel.
Water management
Following extensive trials, a water treatment process was installed in 2018 and operational early 2019. Water used in our production tanks and lines hygiene systems is now processed on site to enable it to return to the local water authority. They are then able to process is it further and include it in their total water management for the area.
This has saved an average of 585 HGV tankers travelling to and from site each year since its introduction, not only reducing our carbon footprint but also making us a better neighbour in our surrounding area.
The process does have its own waste stream which requires tankers to remove. Over the three years of operation this has dropped from 18 down to 5.3 down to 3.25 tankers per month.
The objective is to reduce this further to two per month by 2025.
Ecological care & regeneration
Our Waipapa Bay wine brand is a supporter of Whale and Dolphin Conservation Charity (WDC) who do vital work protecting whale and dolphin life. Whales are an essential part of the ecosystem and each sequester 33 tonnes of carbon when they die.
We have been partners with the WDC since 2019. This year we plan to increase the donation to WDC through moving from a fixed donation to a 5p per bottle sold on Waipapa Bay.
Packaging
In recent years we have introduced lighter weight bottles to our main product lines and we will continue to roll this out to more sku’s over next three years.
We have also introduced a canning line (aluminium being fully recyclable) and our bag-in-box line provides the lowest commercially available carbon footprint per litre of any wine packaging format.
NPD
We plan to develop products which are more sustainable so that by 2027 80% of our products will have a sustainability message and/or have a charity link, either UK bottled, lightweight bottle, sustainable packaging, sustainable sourcing, or a charity link to help offset any negatives.
Green tech
Lighting – we intend to replace all lighting in office and production areas with energy efficient LEDs and automatic sensors where appropriate, aiming to move from current 60% LED lights to 95% by 2025.
Diversity & inclusivity
BDL has an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy to ensure our activities, both internal and external, encourage EDI. Our vision, values, policies and procedures support inclusivity, and the imagery used in our product marketing reflects our customers and consumers. Currently our % of Non-UK Nationals (23%) vs UK Nationals is above our local demographic for Norfolk (8.7%) and we intend to maintain an above-average level of diversity.
Community focused activities
We are Norfolk Wildlife Trust Silver Corporate Members. This demonstrates our commitment to local wildlife, people, and the environment of Norfolk, and we intend to continue this support.
Supply chain partners
For cardboard and labels, we work with suppliers to make sure only FSC approved materials are used for our outer cases, trays, and BIB boxes.
And in-line with our EDI, BRC and Anti-Slavery policies, we ensure all our suppliers meet our requirements.
Drinks portfolio
We plan to develop products which are more sustainable so that by 2027 80% of our products will have a sustainability message and/or have a charity link, either UK bottled, lightweight bottle, sustainable packaging, sustainable sourcing, or a charity link to help offset any negatives.