Wyke Farms is proud to announce Jason Fewell, Engineering Director at Wyke Farms, has won the Sustainable ‘Unsung Hero’ Award at the ASDA Sustain and Save Exchange (SSE) Awards 2016-2017, at a summit run by 2degrees Network in Leeds last week.
Four-hundred votes were cast by SSE members to decide who would win out of the 31 shortlisted entries in the six different categories.
Judges noted that Jason has played an instrumental role in directing Wyke Farms 100% Green business to become the first dairy company in the UK to run self-sufficiently from energy made on the farm. His efforts have also contributed to the business receiving The Carbon Trust Standard Triple Accreditation for carbon, waste and water in 2016 – another first for the dairy industry.
A spokesman for Wyke Farms said: “As a working farm, we have lots of waste streams and buildings which Jason saw sustainable potential in, and as part of our 100% Green strategy he has been working tirelessly over the last few years to implement. This includes an Anaerobic Digestion Plant project on our farm, a Water Recovery Plant project, Conceptual design and construction of Bio Gas Upgrading Plant and solar array project.”
Thanks to Jason and his team, Wyke Farms has saved over 5 million kilos of CO2 in the last year and £2 million in energy costs. It reuse up to 90% of its waste water, saving approx. 91m litres of water annually, and generates 800m3 of gas per hour to grid, helping others to power their homes and businesses with sustainable energy.
Jason has been a member of the 2degrees network since its inception in 2013 and has contributed to the online network on numerous occasions, sharing Wyke Farms’ 100% Green journey and his sustainable engineering knowledge with wider members of the network.
The ASDA Sustain & Save Exchange (SSE) is a private community helping colleagues within ASDA’s suppliers to drive continuous improvement in resource efficiency, product quality and innovation in their businesses.
Wyke Farms has been producing its award-winning cheddar for over a century and has grown to become one of the largest family-owned cheese makers in Britain selling over 15,000 tonnes annually.
Wyke Farms have over 150 years of family farming experience. Wyke Farms’ cheese and butter is made with the milk from their cows grazing the lush pastures of the Mendip Hills in the centre of the Cheddar making region in Somerset.
The Wyke Farms products are available nationwide and can be found in Asda, Co-op, Makro, Sainsbury’s Tesco and Waitrose.