4 Pillars of Sustainability

Environmental

The food supply chain emits a third of all gases that contribute to climate change, finding a way to combat this defines our environmental pillar. We use an in-house developed database that measures CO2e in all raw food materials we use every month.

Carbon Offsetting

Alara implements carbon offsetting by working with a small charity called ‘Rainforest Saver’ who work in sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South America with indigenous farmers to introduce an agricultural system called Inga Alley Cropping. These farmers have traditionally practised slash and burn farming which contributes 3% of all climate change omitted gas. Inga Alley Cropping uses a natural nitrogen-fixing plant to maintain the permanent fertility of agricultural fields. Each Inga planted over a 20-year lifespan will sequester half a ton of carbon. This combination of preventing slash and burn farming and tree planting is a very efficient way of offsetting the embedded CO2e in the food Alara sells. 

Zero Waste

Sending waste to landfills makes it unable to reuse ever again. When biodegradable material is landfilled it decays to produce methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. There is also only so much space to be used for landfills. What happens when there’s none left?

We achieved Zero Waste status in August 2008. We do not send any waste to the landfill. Everything is reused, reduced, recycled or composted.

100% Renewable Energy

Alara uses 100% renewable green energy. Our provider guarantees renewable sources such as hydro, solar and wind energy. We have also replaced all light fittings on site with reduced energy usage benefits.

Home Compostable Packaging

Alara is the first cereal company to offer products in plastic-free film, made of eucalyptus cellulose. It biodegrades in your home compost heap in 90 days.

Arable Organic Farmers

We believe in British organic arable farmers and fairness in the supply chain

We source all our oat, barley and rye flakes from British growers. By offering a long term contract and fair prices to farmers, Alara was instrumental in establishing the Organic Arable Group, which connects small organic farms and has helped the development of the British organic oat sector.

Economic

The next fundamental pillar of sustainability is the economic foundation. The measure we use is ‘cash on delivery’ or C.O.D. This means we do not have a creditor ledger and pay for all of our goods and services on delivery and approval.

We do this for three reasons:

Firstly, it values food properly. Before Alex Smith started Alara, he lived for a year without using any money, but he found it was impossible to live without food. This taught him that food is a much more valuable commodity than money is. 

Secondly,  cash flow is the reality of all business. We exist as a food business in a bio-diverse network of both suppliers and customers. Valuing, appreciating and supporting our suppliers is a key step for us to establish valued relationships with them.

Lastly, we use C.O.D to encourage us as a business to minimise ‘economic’ waste. We can’t rely on our suppliers to provide us with cash flow to cover us when we make mistakes. This means we have to carefully consider opportunities before we take them on.

Social

The social pillar of Sustainability is understanding, appreciating and valuing both our employees and the community in which the business is based.

To fully embrace these values, Alara has recently become an Employee Ownership Trust.

Read the press release, which explains why we consider this a good example of a social measure: 24-10-11 Alara EOT.

We have an internal human rights policy to reflect our commitment to looking after our employees and workers in the supply chain. We have mandatory procedures in place to make sure basic human rights are respected. These include: employment is freely chosen, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are respected, working conditions are safe and hygienic, child labour shall not be used, living wages are paid, working hours are not excessive, no discrimination is practised, regular employment is provided and no harsh or inhumane treatment is allowed.

We conduct due diligence throughout our business on our own facilities and on suppliers to
proactively assess, identify, prevent and mitigate actual and potential adverse human rights
impacts to stakeholders across our value chain. Due diligence tools we rely on include, but are
not limited to, human rights impact assessments, human rights compliance surveys and
compliance reviews. When adverse human rights impacts are uncovered due to our business
activities or from linkages to our operations, Alara is committed to taking timely and transparent
action to remediate in a fair and equitable manner in line with the UNGPs.

Aside from our internal policy, we have also undergone a SMETA audit (click here to download the full report). Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) is one of the most widely used ethical audit formats in the world and its aim is to assess the standards of labour, health and safety, environment and business ethics of a company. 

The well-being of our local community is also a top priority. This is the reason we work with local (central London) food banks, including Food For All, the UK’s largest free meals provider, to send out free meals. 

Governance

Governance is the formal relationship that Alara has with society. Everyday, 250000 people eat  food from our factory – This is a very privileged and intimate trust that customers have with the business. To reinforce this trust, we have decided to publish all of these audits on our website. This offers a review of the hygiene, quality and ethics of the business. 

Related page: Audits