I joined Cranswick six years ago as Stores and Material Manager, having been in warehousing for most of my career.

Since joining Cranswick, my proudest achievement is the work we have done on reducing plastic waste. Through our Second Nature activities, we first identified the waste areas by line and product, and then involved employees by launching an action plan for waste reduction. I'm pleased to report that we have reduced plastic usage by 24 tonnes this year. We have already exceeded our target of 20% reduction in plastic waste, with additional improvements planned.

Our Second Nature strategy has many other benefits for our business. I enjoy seeing colleagues engaging and feeling empowered to share their ideas. We hold regular meetings with the Management Team and our wider workforce, which is a great way to share new initiatives. Through collaboration, the site has become Carbon Neutral and is well on its way to becoming Net Zero before 2040.

I am passionate about the reduction of plastic waste and would like to see everyone try to reduce it and learn to dispose of it correctly. My advice to anyone in the industry who feels passionate about driving change within their business, is not to accept anything at face value, challenge everything, involve people, and record everything you do so that everyone can learn from your journey.

Simon, Stores and Material Manager