Empowering local communities, enhancing livelihoods
Our commitment to the UK and Ireland and the communities we operate in
Over the past 100 years, our workforce in the UK and Ireland has grown to more than 8,000 people – working across 14 factories and numerous offices, retail sites and distribution centres.
We have invested more than a billion pounds in our UK and Irish operations over the last three decades. Many of our factories here have become centres of excellence for the manufacture of Nestlé products for all of Europe.
The winds of change
We have invested in the development of new wind power capacity at Sanquhar in Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland and an offshore farm off the North East Coast run by Ørsted to transition to 100% renewable grid-supplied electricity across our operations in the UK and Ireland.
Our community windfarm at Sanquhar, Scotland displaces more than 34,000 tonnes of harmful CO2 every year. It produces enough energy to power half of our UK factories, offices and warehouses.
Our offshore wind farm off the North East Coast, run by Ørsted, brings us to 100% renewable, grid-supplied electricity across our operations in the UK and Ireland.
Our own community is growing too
In recent years, we have welcomed even more businesses into the family, including:
Working with local communities
We take pride in working with local communities on a variety of initiatives:
- offering apprenticeship schemes for young people
- promoting healthy hydration and healthy lifestyle
- encouraging recycling
- ensuring sustainable operations
- developing employee skills and knowledge
- sponsoring education projects.
Here are some examples of our community initiatives
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Partnership with Buxton FC Academy Buxton Water partnered with Buxton FC Academy as part of its long-standing commitment to championing young talent while supporting and investing in the local community.Read More
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Enhancing local biodiversity Wyeth Nutrition in Ireland supported a local primary school in educating the pupils on the importance of looking after local wildlife.Read More
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Safety visors for frontline workers Our Innovation Centre in York supported the community by making parts for safety visors for key workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.Read More
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Keep Britain Tidy's Great British Spring Clean As headline partner, our employees were taking part in litter picks in their local communities.Read More
Many of our brands have been a part of life in this country for over 100 years. Every time I visit one of our sites in the UK and Ireland I meet people who are incredibly proud of where they live and work and passionate about the ways that we all contribute to the local community.”
Celebrating our local communities
We are fighting food inequality in our communities
We have a successful and long-standing partnership with Fareshare and Community Shop in the UK and FoodCloud in Ireland. We have been working with them to minimise food waste and ensure that significantly more surplus food is redistributed and made available to those who need it.
Through the partnerships, in 2020 we donated 1,110 tonnes of our factory surplus food and redistributed the equivalent of more than 2,644,290 million meals to feed vulnerable people.
In Ireland, we have partnered with FoodCloud to ensure that surplus food has been redistributed to those in need. We are the only food supplier to provide all surplus food to FoodCloud while also making a per-pallet financial contribution to assist the organisation to be self-sustaining. Over 123,000 meals have been donated to FoodCloud saving a total of 165.8 tonnes of CO2 in the process.
Hands up for helping out
Nestlé Cares is our programme that facilitates up to 15,000 days of volunteering every year from our UK and Ireland employees. Each employee can take two days a year away from work to volunteer in the community.
Some of the organisations our employees have donated their time to:
- The Wildlife Trust
- Marine Conservation Society
- York Cares
- FareShare
- Orchard Care Homes
- Pieta House
- DSCPA.
All in the MIND
The mental health charity MIND became our corporate charity in June 2020. Our employees are endlessly inventive in finding activities and events to fundraise for them throughout the year.
We previously raised £375,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support during our 3-year partnership.
The mental health organisation Pieta became our Irish charity of choice in 2019. Since then, Nestlé Ireland employees have raised more than €60,000. Their goal is €100,000 by the end of 2021.