Innocent Drinks Settles in Rotterdam with CO2-Neutral Factory
The juice maker is the launching agri/food company at the new Rotterdam Food Hub
UK-based Innocent Drinks, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola, will build its own CO2-neutral factory in the Port of Rotterdam, starting in Q4 2019. After a four-year search for a new production location, the company chose Rotterdam due its sustainable location being close to the port for access to ingredients, thereby significantly reducing road transport.
Innocent will be the launching company in the new Rotterdam Food Hub, a sixty hectares business park where agri/food companies can share customs facilities, storage areas and cooling, and with berths for sea-going vessels with refrigerated cargo.
Sustainable manufacturing
The Innocent factory, in which €250 million will be invested, will produce around 400 million bottles of their chilled juices and smoothies every year for 17 European countries and will provide over 200 new jobs, the company reports. By reducing millions of road miles and minimizing the carbon footprint, Innocent is building further on its ambitions and role model in sustainable manufacturing.
Reducing carbon footprint
Douglas Lamont, CEO Innocent Drinks: “From the very beginning, innocent has been about making delicious, healthy drinks in a way that keeps the planet healthy too. For the past four years we have been looking at ways to bring our manufacturing network closer together; taking miles off the road and reducing our carbon footprint – all the while benefiting from efficiencies of scale.”
The factory will consolidate Innocent’s supply chain network, saving over 250 road tanker journeys a week, taking 93% of its tankers off the road. With these and other initiatives such as reducing the use of water and reusing waste, Innocent aims to reduce CO2 even further.
Fast-growing European market
“With our business growing rapidly and us selling more drinks in Europe than ever before, it now makes sense to build our own factory,” Lamont said, adding: “We’re excited to start building our very own carbon-neutral factory where we can do all the making of our drinks, from fruit to fruit- in- a- bottle, under one roof. A factory that is designed to make our drinks for our drinkers, exactly how we want to, when they want them, both now and for the future. The factory will be a healthy and inspiring place to work.”
Minister Wiebes of the Netherlands’ Economic Affairs & Climate Policy said it is good news that Innocent is locating in the Rotterdam Food Hub. “Innocent shows that production and sustainability can go hand in hand. The company contributes to the strengthening of Holland’s international food cluster, and with this investment Innocent creates new employment opportunities in the Rotterdam region.”
Source: Innocent
3 May 2019