Arla Foods has deep roots in the Swedish and Danish dairy industries, which allows us to trace the environmental footprints left by our dairy products. Not only can we calculate a carbon footprint for a litre of milk; we can also tell you about everything that happens on our farms, at our dairies, as well as how we organise milk transport and choose our packaging.

Arla Foods is also the largest dairy company in the UK where we have established close collaboration with all our milk producers in the Arla Foods Milk Partnership. This helps ensure traceability for Brittish consumers.

At Arla Foods, we have developed an environmental strategy we can be proud of. For many years, we have worked hard to record and document the work processes and resources involved in making our dairy products.

We can document the work on the farm by means of our own quality assurance programme called Arlagården (the Arla Farm). In 2003, we worked with the members of our cooperative to define a set of rules that applies to the production on the farm. The cornerstones of the programme are: the composition of the milk, food safety, animal welfare and environmental considerations. This gives you, the consumer, a guarantee that the milk you buy from Arla Foods can be traced back to the farm of origin. It is nevertheless the environmental legislation of the individual country that primarily determines the environmental impact of farm production.

At the dairy we have a long-standing tradition for documenting our power and water consumption. We have been measuring our CO2 emissions for many years and we are currently focussing on the way the dairies handle their waste. In addition, we have a comprehensive network at our domestic and foreign production plants where we share our environmental experiences in accordance with the “Best Practice” principle. We also cooperate with other companies to improve our production conditions and make sure they remain optimal from an environmental perspective. Environmental management and environmental certification are an integral part of everyday life at Arla Foods’ production plants.

We focus on the environment when we transport milk from the farm to the dairy and again from the dairy to shops, industrial kitchens and restaurants. We own many of the trucks that deliver the milk and can therefore make sure that their routes are as short as possible, that their engines are new and pollute as little as possible and that the drivers maximise their fuel economy.

We also consider environmental impact when choosing our packaging. Environmental considerations are central to our group-wide Arla Foods packaging policy.

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