It’s very varied. Yes, we process more than 7 million tonnes of beet – that’s the UK’s entire crop – every year. We receive 2,000 lorry loads of beet each day. The factories themselves rival those you’d find in the oil, petrochemical and power industries. Our work ranges from talking to some 4,500 beet suppliers to major R&D investment taking in new product development and increasing crop yield. But it doesn’t stop there.
The first part of the sugar production process involves removing the stones and soil from the beet crop. This recycled topsoil is highly friable with a good level of nutrients and organic matter. The TOPSOIL range from British Sugar utilises this valuable non-renewable resource in a sustainable way, being ideal for landscaping and amenity projects.
Once the sugar is removed from the beet, the remaining vegetable matter is dried to produce animal feed products, giving us a third business.
There's our 11 hectare greenhouse which takes the C02 co-product and water used in the sugar process and utilises both to grow 80 million tomatoes.
Lastly, we drew on our sugar beet experience to become the first UK company to manufacture bioethanol, a carbon-friendly, fully renewable fuel.
The combined heat & power system we use is one of the most fuel-efficient processes available – around 80% of the energy in the fuel is employed in the sugar manufacturing process.
We’ve saved around 60% in CO2 emissions when compared to petrol.
Our business? More like our businesses.
British Sugar is Registered in England 315158
Registered addess: Weston Centre, 10 Grosvenor Street, London W1K 4QY