The environmental and sustainability considerations of flour production: getting it right

For those outside of the food industry, flour might seem at first glance like a simple, basic staple that couldn’t possibly come with complexities. But as anyone inside the food industry knows, flour is big business – which means it comes with complications that all those involved in the supply chain of its creation have to be aware of.

The flour industry around the world is worth around $155 billion US dollars, and in Britain in particular it is thought to have a turnover of well over £1 billion. And in a context of increasing climate uncertainty, it’s necessary to make sure that all who are involved in the sector know how important it is to think about the environmental and sustainability sides of producing this commodity.

An environmental management system

One of the first places to look when working on your flour production set-up’s sustainability approach is to think about introducing an environmental management system. This sort of system can help ensure that no environmental blind spots have arisen in your current set-up, and can help you plan to ensure that energy efficiency and sustainability are built in to your future operations.

At first glance, this can look like regulation and red tape – especially if you’re a smaller flour producer without the resources to hire lots of people to perform regulatory checks on your behalf. However, it may be worth reconceptualising this not as regulation but as a resource in its own right. For example, international standards such as ISO 14001 are designed to help make it easier for you to make sure that the environment is embedded in your processes, and to reap the rewards of that. This standard focuses on a number of important areas, such as how to perform life cycle analysis and how to effectively label components of your systems.

Using the right kit

It’s also important to think about the equipment you use when producing flour. But, all too often, people involved in the sector can think that environmental and sustainability-focused changes are mutually exclusive with a healthy bottom line. But that doesn’t have to be the case – and, often, it’s in the world of kit that this sustainability-friendly efficiency can be achieved.

Say you use water pumps in your factories: by moving to a newer piece of kit like a HEAT₂O™ from Mitsubishi, which has a natural carbon dioxide refrigerant and an ozone depletion potential of nil, you can both bring down your commercial energy bills while also contributing to the sustainability movement.

Company culture

Finally, it’s also worth thinking about ways in which your flour production company’s culture might be either contributing to or detracting from your sustainability efforts. Even with the best will in the world, sometimes staff find it hard to go for pro-environment options in their day to day workflows. Senior staff might not feel like they have the budget or resource to make environmentally friendly improvements, for example, while staff on the shop floor might not have on their radar just how important it is not to allow large amounts of waste by-products to build up.

Small ways that you can integrate sustainability into your company culture is in your hiring practices. When hiring senior managers who are likely to be controlling budgets, for example, you can ask certain questions – like “What impact do you see environmental efficiency having on the company’s bottom line?” – to gauge how they think on this issue. You can also ensure that change begins on the shop floor or in the office by instituting facilities like recycling bins; this can lead to positive behaviour change and embed the idea that environmental change encompasses the whole team.

Ultimately, producing flour doesn’t have to be done in an unsustainable way in order to remain profitable. Happily, the two aims can co-exist through investing in the right equipment, tools and more. In the end, environmental sustainability is something that will affect us all, and holds the potential to affect business and commercial outlooks. By doing your bit as a flour producer to move towards newer and more environmentally friendly approaches, you can help manage the risks that climate change poses while also improving the efficiency of your business. It’s a win-win!

Back