Waitrose Limited

Our aim is to breed sheep with a naturally low carbon footprint to help English sheep farmers make a positive contribution to the journey towards Net Zero for UK agriculture. We are an alliance of forward-thinking sheep farmers and breeders who apply genetic science to the breeding of our sheep so that they can make the best, most efficient use of grass a...

Single-use plastic packaging is now firmly on the public's mind. Whilst government and industry have started to look for solutions, most innovation to date has focused on lightweighting, creating alternative single-use materials to SUPP or improving collection and recycling systems. While these are valuable improvements, Unpackaged believes the focus shou...

Beauty Kitchen, developed Return•Refill•Repeat (RRR), to pioneer change. By following B Corporation principles of people, planet, profit alongside Cradle2Cradle safe and circular design RRR is as a whole-system approach to break down the complex barriers to entering and scaling a circular reuse economy. We enable brands, retailers and consumers to change ...

This SME-led feasibility study will enable peat-free production of mushrooms and leafy salads by twice recycling plant-based substrates from other sectors supporting a truly sustainable solution for these two, high value sectors of horticulture. The main technical challenges in recycling peat-free organic materials for these specialist sectors are quality...

In the UK, tuber greening is directly linked to 116,000 tonnes of household potato waste each year with an associated estimated loss of £60m p.a. to UK retailers. In field losses due to tuber greening also cost the industry £37m p.a. Greening is a significantly negative factor in consumer purchases where a 1% increase in sales is worth £3m p.a. to produce...

There is widespread concern about levels of salt consumption amongst UK consumers. Reducing salt (NaCl) content is often achieved by adding potassium salt (KCl), but this is inherently bitter, cannot be added in large quantities and has it's own health risks. The Quorn manufacturing process generates a water based effluent (Centrate) containing compounds ...

The project brings together a multi-disciplinary consortium comprising key industry innovators in the UK lamb supply chain working with Aberystwyth University to develop a commercial system for the in-abattoir detection of contamination of carcasses by faecal and gut matter. This contamination has the potential to cause food waste through spoilage and red...

Fresh tomatoes and peppers are high value crops and are an important part of a healthy human diet. These products are highly perishable and are subject to peaks and troughs in production. Low temperatures are currently used to extend shelf life, but the shelf life is short and energy costs are high. As a result, the supply chain for such products remains ...

Nitrogen fertilisers provide essential nutrients for crop growth. World consumption in 2010 was 105m tonnes, in 2013 the total value was £1.6bn. The price is determined by the cost of natural gas which is linked to the price of oil. To maximise yield nitrogen fertilisers contain ammonia or urea, (made from ammonia & CO2). Ammonia made from natural gas is ...

To design a dynamic simulation tool for a retail supply chain that incorporates characteristics of customer demand to facilitate strategic decision making on environmental efficiency.

This project aims to enable the innovations that will enhance the supply of more efficient and productive breeding stock to the UK sheep sector through the development of the tools that will allow the exploitation of new genomic technologies. It brings together a consortium comprising Innovis, Dalehead Foods, and Waitrose and experts from Aberystwyth Univ...

The need for traceable, sustainable home grown protein sources for livestock is increasing, particularly given recent price increases for feed and fertiliser. As such, ruminant farmers in the UK are under increasing pressure to maximise use of grassland-based systems to feed livestock. Forage proteins such as red clover and lucerne have been proven to imp...