Meade Farm Group wins 2022 Circular Economy Leadership Award
16 Sept. – Co. Kildare, Ireland – From left, Robert Devlin, General Manager and Executive Director at Meade Farm Group; Eileen Hanan, HR & Payroll Manager at Meade Farm Group; David McCormack, Director of Sustainable Manufacturing at IMR; and Marty Whelan, Irish Radio Personality, during the 2022 IMR Manufacturing and Supply Chain Awards. Photo: Paul Sherwood.
Congratulations to Meade Farm Group for winning Ireland’s first Circular Economy Leadership Award at the 2022 IMR Manufacturing & Supply Chain Awards. It was a double celebration for Meade Farm Group as they also won the 2022 Grand Prix Award for overall best manufacturing company.
On the same day, CIRCULÉIRE Industry Member Wyeth Nutrition also won the Sustainable Manufacturer of the Year Award. The awards ceremony took place on 16 September 2022 at the Kilashee Hotel in Naas, Co. Kildare.
Meade Farm Group’s submission demonstrated how they had embedded circular innovation within their business by creating a unique, new sustainability-driven supply chain model for potato starch that prioritises food waste prevention utilising surplus potatoes, potato crop by-products and by-products of the processing industry.
“From the top down, through excellent leadership, this company have truly embraced food waste elimination and through innovation and creativity, they have found a solution which not only addresses a problem but creates value”, said Barry Kennedy, CEO of Irish Manufacturing Research.
Potato starch is usually imported to Ireland, but instead of relying on crops grown specifically for starch, Meade Farm Group have decided to extract starch at their farm and food production facilities.
“We use Class II and surplus potatoes from our growing and packing operations, as well as grey starch collected from crisping factories. We have valorised the 30% typical waste rate for potato crops and our leftover pulp is fed to our cattle on the farm. We’re the only facility in Ireland and UK that sells food-grade potato starch to manufacturers, food service and retailers”, says Meade Group.
Cirtex, HealthBeacon, iQuTech, Novelplast and VivaGreen Group were finalists in this category.
Sustainable Manufacturer of the Year Award
CIRCULÉIRE Industry Member Wyeth Nutrition was also announced as the winner of the 2022 “Sustainable Manufacturer of the Year”, sponsored by AIB Ireland, due to their “inspiring and wide-ranging approach to sustainability and delivering impressive cumulative results”.
CIRCULÉIRE Industry Members
Another three CIRCULÉIRE Industry Members have won the 2022 IMR Manufacturing & Supply Chain Awards across the 12 award categories. See the full list below:
- Aryzta Ireland – Health & Safety Project of the Year
- Boston Scientific – Smart Factory Manufacturer of the Year Sponsored By Bank of Ireland
- Kerrygold – Lean Manufacturing Company of the Year
- Wyeth Nutrition – Sustainable Manufacturer of the Year Sponsored By AIB
CIRCULÉIRE commend all our members and other candidates who applied for the #IMRAwards.
For more information, read here.
About CIRCULÉIRE
CIRCULÉIRE is a public-private partnership co-created by Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) and three strategic partners: the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and EIT Climate-KIC. Together with industry partners, CIRCULÉIRE aims to assist manufacturers and their supply chains to switch from linear to circular business models.
Read more about CIRCULÉIRE here.
