innocent Opens World’s Most Sustainable Juice & Smoothie Factory in the Netherlands
innocent’s production factory in Rotterdam is a key step in their goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2025
Last week, healthy drinks producer innocent opened its first own factory in Rotterdam, the Netherlands – innocent has invested 225 million euros in producing in this CO2 neutral – and fully electric – drinks factory. ‘the blender’, as the factory is named, is key to the company’s strong sustainability mission. The first juices and smoothies will roll off the production line in the Port of Rotterdam from this week.
innocent makes conscious choice to be ahead of the green curve
As part of the collaboration between the 500 B Corps who share the same sustainable ambition, innocent committed itself in 2019 to be completely CO2 neutral by 2030 which is 20 years earlier than agreed in the Paris Climate Agreement. However, innocent has ambitions to operate CO2-neutrally by 2025 by means of compensation projects. The company will continue to invest in this area in the coming period, as well as in sustainable management and use of nature.
Sustainable techniques and holistic approach
To reach carbon neutrality in 2025, innocent sees the blender in Rotterdam as an important step towards achieving this goal. Through a combination of sustainable techniques and a holistic approach, the blender is a factory that is better for people, planet and the company itself. This is achieved by ensuring that the carbon emissions of its the logistical operations are reduced, opting for sustainable energy resources, but also by reducing water consumption and alternative waste plan.
Smart ways to build green
the blender is a factory in which sustainability has been considered from the drawing board to its daily operation. By using BREEAM guidelines, a well-known method for testing, assessing and certifying the sustainability of buildings, innocent managed to reduce the impact the facility has on its environment by looking at waste, water, energy, land use, health and also well-being.
Sourcing and reusing sustainable energy
The design of the factory also takes into account how energy is brought in and used within the factory, amounting to a reduction of the total energy consumption for cooling and heating the facility by an estimated 50%. Currently, the energy needs of the blender are supplied by external green sources. In the future, this will be extracted from windmills and solar panels under our innocent’s own management. Energy that is extracted to cool the factory, is used to heat production processes but also keeps the office pleasantly warm.
Significantly reducing water use
The blender is not only CO2-neutral, but also uses significantly less water and reduces waste. Water consumption is reduced by a cleaning system that mainly uses air instead of water, resulting into 75% less water use over a conventional drinks factories. Leftover water is returned to the Rotterdam water network via the factory’s own water purification system.
Port of Rotterdam as an ideal location for innocent’s green, smart logistics
By choosing the Port of Rotterdaam, a central location in the Netherlands and Europe, as the location for the blender, innocent’s resources and products will travel less, reducing the length of its supply chain by 20%. To further reduce the impact on the environment, innocent transport fleet consists of 100% fully electric 50-ton trucks.
Inspiring the competition to go green
Not only does innocent have ambitions for itself with this factory, but also wants to inspire other companies so that more CO2-neutral production can be achieved globally. By sharing its innovative solutions to reaching a more sustainbale future, innocent aims to inspire others. Everything innocent learned – from construction to production, from mistakes to successes – is shared with everyone, including its competitors, so the blender can serve as a leading example of a sustainable factory.
Source: innocent
1 November 2021