The conversation: “Preventing waste - to me, that’s the essence”

Nick: "Back to Operations: what is your ultimate goal?
Stan: "Our objectives are included in the 2025 Build to Grow strategy, which was launched in the autumn of 2020. Our longer term ambition is to emit an impressive 75% less CO₂ per tonne of end product by 2030 compared to 2015. We have also defined three short-term hard objectives, i.e. to be realised by 2025. 1: our largest feed mill in Lochem must be completely CO₂ neutral by then. 2: across the whole of the Operations department - i.e. production plus outbound logistics in all five countries we're active in - energy consumption per tonne of end product must be reduced by 10% compared to 2019. And 3: 50% of the energy we're still using in 2025 must come from renewable sources."
Nick: "These are very concrete, but certainly also very ambitious goals! Can you give an example of a project which is specifically focussed on this?"
Stan: "A very important project we realised three years ago is, of course, the biomass installation in Lochem. This power station is used to burn local wood chips which have been released during regular forest and landscape maintenance - so it is waste. We use the released heat to fire up the steam boiler which produces the steam with which the feed is pressed into pellets. This power station allows us to reduce this location's fossil natural gas consumption by approximately 90%."
Nick: "That sounds impressive!"
Stan: "Indeed. We are unfortunately not yet able to achieve that, as we're currently still suffering from too many technical issues. But we're working hard to achieve that 90%. And in the meantime it's certainly a good learning opportunity for future projects."

Nick: "Do you have an example from one of the other countries?"
Stan: "We have invested in 'cogeneration' in Poland, also referred to as CHP. This means we generate our own electricity with a gas engine and we heat the steam boiler with the heat which is subsequently generated. We've also replaced the coal used for fuel in Biskupice with natural gas. All in all, this results in a CO₂ saving of approximately 30%."
Nick: "Isn't it quite remarkable that the switch to natural gas in Poland has contributed to more sustainable production, while we're actually trying to reduce natural gas consumption in the Netherlands?"
Stan: "Well, that's obviously all about the starting position. Natural gas isn't ideal, but it's certainly a huge improvement if it replaces coal."

Nick: "And how far have we actually progressed with solar panels at our production sites?"
Stan: "There are already almost 3,000 solar panels on the head office roof and on two sheds in Lochem. Together they're good for approximately 805,000 kWh of solar power per year. We're working on this at various other locations too. Although the solar panels' contribution only represents a few percent, every little bit most definitely helps. We're also looking at direct and virtual links with external solar parks, which may enable us to realise savings of several tens of percent."

Nick: "If you had to pick one project which really stands out for you, which one would that be?"
Stan: "I won't need to think too long about that one: the collaboration with the 'Oxe Provides Gas' cooperative, which we recently entered into. This is an initiative set up by five dairy farmers in Oxe, a hamlet near Deventer. The farmers have a manure digester on their own property - or are now investing in one - and use this to produce biogas with the fresh manure from their stables. ForFarmers purchases this biogas and uses it to generate steam in the feed mill in Deventer. We replace 400,000 m³ of natural gas with biogas on an annual basis, which is approximately 85% of the Deventer location's annual consumption."
Nick: "That sounds like a nice and, above all, sustainable deal."
Stan: "It's the perfect example of circularity; I think that's the beauty of it: the farmers buy feed from ForFarmers and feed it to their livestock, the manure produced is fermented on their own property and the biogas released is transported to ForFarmers, which then uses this to generate steam to produce new compound feed. The digestate which remains in the digester is used as fertiliser by the farmers on their own land. Although this isn't a major technical investment project for us, it was very nice to sit down together - with the dairy farmers and their advisor on the one hand and our colleagues from energy purchasing and legal affairs on the other - and, despite the different interests, be able to put together a very nice contract which both parties are happy with."