SUSTAINABILITY

how we improve our environmental impact

Recycling

Approximately 12 grams of every egg is the shell. We manufacture 1.5 million eggs a week, which equates to 17.7 tons of egg shell waste that would otherwise be sent to landfill.

With help from the University of Leicester, we developed an innovative solution to recycle our egg shells. Egg shells are made almost entirely of calcium carbonate, a chemical compound with a hard-wearing, crystalline structure that can be used to replace chalk as plastic filler.

How it works

Professor Andy Abbott and scientists at Leicester University designed the eggshell processing plant to fit in with our production line, swiftly dealing with the egg shells before they get a chance to rot.

The eggshells are chopped up with blades, washed and then treated with a water-based solution to remove any remaining egg protein (including the membrane).Then, further blades cut the shell into a fine powder, which is dried to become the filler.

Using powdered egg shell as a plastic filler instead of chalk is economical and good for the environment, as it’s making use of a waste product instead of using Earth’s resources.

Our egg shells are used by Silvergate Plastics.

Winner of the Food and Drink Forum Most Innovative Collaboration Award at the 2012 Food and Drink iNet Innovation Awards