Growing Together.

Charity and Sustainability

As we grow at Nationwide Produce, we feel it’s our duty to give to local communities to help them grow, too. It’s part of our overall philosophy; not only do we want to grow the very finest produce we possibly can, but to help people grow, too, by contributing in the best ways we possibly can.

We involve ourselves in a number of personal projects at Nationwide Produce, and community projects close to home and further afield. It is written into the employment contracts of all staff that if they take part in charity events, we will match funds raised by an individual employee up to a maximum of £400 a year for donation to any registered charity or any voluntary organisation approved by the Directors – we feel this actively encourages staff to raise money for charity.

Fareshare

We are proud to announce that our charity of the year for 2024 is FareShare.

Our partnership has seen the equivalent of over 18 million meals delivered to more than 4,000 frontline charities across the UK through the Covid crisis. FareShare partnered with us to manage the logistics of a £16m DEFRA funded project, through which FareShare procured non-perishable food such as tins, pasta and rice, for distribution to the organisation’s 10,500 charity members through the Covid crisis.

Read more here

“Our passion for good causes is something that’s been in the Nationwide Produce family for decades. It’s a commitment to people, to communities, to projects, and to growth, to help people expand and to do more than they could ever have thought possible with the right kind of help and support.”
John Mann, Group Director.

Evesham 10K Headline Sponsor 2024

We are proud to be headline sponsor of this year’s Evesham 10K Race, a brilliant annual event aimed at raising funds for charity, building awareness of important causes, and getting the local community moving!

As headline sponsor, we will be supplying fresh produce to give the runners an extra spring in their step! The route weaves through the picturesque town of Evesham, a stone’s throw from our Nationwide Produce Evesham depot.

Poppy Appeal

We have been fundraising for many years now with one campaign in particular remaining close to our hearts. Back in February 2016, we smashed our fundraising target of £10,000 for the Poppy Appeal. When the sales receipts from the special ‘Poppy Box’ potatoes were tallied, we had exceeded that goal by almost 50% raising a grand total of £14,443 for the Royal British Legion.

Following our exceptional efforts, we were delighted to win the UK Fruit & Veg Charitable Initiative Award for 2016. This was an achievement we were proud to be chosen for because these awards are not chosen by a panel of dignitaries but by online vote from our industry peers.

Full details here:
www.nationwideproduce.com/poppy-box-potato-sales-target-smashed-14k-windfall-for-armed-forces-community

Street Child World Cup

Our Group MD, Tim O’Malley and his son Cameron, have taken on Rio de Janeiro’s three highest peaks to raise £4,000 for the Street Child World Cup project in association with Save the Children.

In June 2017 Tim O’Malley, his son Cameron, daughter Meghan and Rafa Lopez who runs our Spanish office, all climbed the highest mountain in Africa – Kilimanjaro – and raised nearly £3,000 for the Street Child World Cup charity.

Whole Planet Foundation

We have proudly partnered with @WholeFoodsLondon* in supporting Whole Planet Foundation, whose mission is to alleviate global poverty. Collectively, alongside other suppliers, we have helped raise over £32,000 which will turn into over 200 microcredit loans for individuals in communities around the world.

Learn more about Whole Planet Foundation here: https://www.wholeplanetfoundation.org/

Mad Dog 10K Run

For the past 10 years, we have donated fruit for the Mad Dog 10K run which is an event that takes place along the Southport shore line. The event is run by The Round Table with all profits going to local charities. We are proud to donate to a good cause, laying out our fresh produce for the 2,500 runners to help themselves to at the finishing line.

To date, the Mad Dog 10K Run has raise over £96,000 for charity.

Sustainability Statement

As a business we’re focused on reducing our carbon emissions and food waste. With sustainability being a core focus, we have put together key improvement areas to help us to achieve our vision:

Waste Management

At Nationwide Produce we are passionate about reducing waste and ensuring any waste heading to landfill is at an absolute minimum. With this in mind, we are currently streamlining our waste management by making use of local food charities and Anaerobic Digestion.

We have been diverting surplus food to our partner, Fareshare which allows them to deliver healthy, nutritious food to food banks, community groups, activity schemes and schools which supports the UK’s most vulnerable children. Since starting this partnership in January 2020, we have reduced our food waste and helped to deliver 18 million meals to people in need.

The first ‘food only’ Anaerobic Digestion plant in the UK, An Digestion, takes all of the food waste unable to be sent to local food banks and charities. Their biogas plant is based in Bishops Cleeve, just 13 miles away from our Nationwide Evesham Depot. The plants process industrial and domestic food waste to create renewable energy and a nutrient rich fertiliser.

Using these waste management methods not only saves on landfill costs but allows us to achieve our goals of becoming a greener business by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Renewable Energy Promise

Our main production facility in Long Sutton, Lincolnshire generates around a third of its electricity consumption from the 100kw solar panel system on its roof. Our main Evesham depot also holds a 205kw solar panel system on its roof. Furthermore, we are currently installing more solar panels at both Evesham depots which will take the total capacity from 205kw to 500kw.

We’re proud to be certified renewable, with 100% of the power needed to run our UK depots and offices being produced from renewable energy sources.

Reduced Carbon Emissions

As a global importer and UK and EU exporter, transport is a huge part of our business. This is something we are conscious about and are actively working on to reduce our carbon emissions. We have introduced a new fleet of trucks to reduce our CO2 footprint and fuel consumption, with the latest FH500 Step E Engine and fitted with I-See technology.

Project Super Green

One of the green initiatives we’re most proud of is “Project Super Green” which is the commissioning in 2022 of Europe’s largest installation of a new “sustainable” cooling system at Evesham. The new refrigeration system will use “greener” refrigerant (R454A) said to offer an 83% reduction in Global Warming Potential compared to the industry standard (R449A). It will also increase energy efficiency by around 15%.

See our Carbon Reduction Plan