Carbery – Quality, service and innovation
Established in 1965, Carbery Group is a leading international food ingredients, flavours and
cheese manufacturer. Carbery is farmer owned and its headquarters are in Cork, Ireland.
The Company is one of Ireland’s leading producers of cheese. Products include the “Dubliner”
brand and cheddar. Its ingredients business includes dairy based ingredients and flavours. The
company pioneered the production of whey proteins in the mid-1970s and has since then been at
the forefront on technological innovation in this sector. In 1998, Carbery expanded its ingredients
business to include flavours. Carbery has grown its flavour business through a combination of
organic and acquisitive expansion. Today, the company operates from ten locations, in Ireland, the
UK, USA, Brazil and Thailand.
While Carbery is an international food ingredients, flavours, and cheese producer, its roots and
heritage are firmly established in the dairy sector. The company is owned by its farmer
shareholders based in West Cork and its primary dairy processing facility is in Ballineen. It
processes approximately 390 million litres of milk and produces close to 40,000 metric tonnes of
cheese annually. This case study is associated with the aforementioned Ballineen site.
Developing sustainability
Environment
Carbery recognises that businesses have an important role to play in protecting the environment.
That’s why it incorporates an environmental strategy into the day-to-day running of its businesses
and into the long term targets of the Company. Every year, it completes an environmental report
and strives to improve results year on year.
Carbery Milk Suppliers
In 2012, the Carbery Greener Dairy Farms Project was set up with the aim of identifying methods
of improving the sustainability of suppliers. Knowledge learned through this trial is distributed to all
suppliers through activities including farm walks, seminars and newsletters.
Carbery works closely with Animal Health Ireland (AHI) on a variety of programmes including the
‘CellCheck’ Programme, which aims to reduce mastitis in the national herd. Carbery have also
worked closely with AHI promoting Johne’s disease control by dove-tailing the AHI national Pilot
Scheme with a Carbery run programme.
Commitment
Carbery is proud of its sustainability achievements. For example, it has introduced a
comprehensive Environmental Management System (EMS) incorporating Environmental Protection
Agency’s (EPA) best practice and achieved the Quality ISO 14001 Environmental Management
System. It has also become a member of SEDEX* which aims to improve ethics and practices in
the global food supply chain. Carbery completed the SEDEX Members Ethical Trade Audit to
enable it to identify weaknesses and improve long-term sustainability objectives.
In addition, the company is committed to implementing a sustainable sourcing policy for all its
suppliers.
What does Origin Green membership mean for Carbery?
Carbery’s holistic approach to sustainability makes it an ideal candidate for Origin Green. The
company’s sustainability team is pursuing objectives in all areas of operations – assessing
environmental, social and financial impacts. Carbery’s goal is to continue to satisfy customers
while also caring for the environment.
As part of its sustainability plan, Carbery has targeted five areas: water usage, biodiversity,
sustainable dairy production, energy consumption/ emissions, and waste.
Under its Origin Green plan, Carbery commits to:
 Work with farmers to promote more sustainable dairy production and animal welfare
 Enhance biodiversity at facilities through planting of trees and shrubs and installing bird
boxes
 Reduce carbon emissions by 13% by converting to biomass fuel and through other
advanced technologies.
 Reduce water consumption by 12%, while increasing output by 11%
 Reduce landfill waste by 2%
 Reduce its chemical oxygen demand (COD) loadings by 15%
 Achieve the ISO 50001 energy-management standard in early 2014
 Ensure all milk suppliers are members of Bord Bia’s Sustainable Dairy Assurance
Scheme
“’Environmental care, sustainable practices and caring for our people’ have always been core
values at Carbery. Our participation in Origin Green has dove-tailed easily with our pre-existing
sustainability agenda and it complements the ethos of the company perfectly. Carbery is dedicated
to being a socially responsible, environmentally aware company. The Origin Green initiative, as a
framework for development and continued improvement, is closely aligned with the group strategy
and vision.”
*SEDEX = the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange