innocent blender: First bottles produced at the world’s most sustainable healthy drinks factory

The world renown producer of healthy drinks innocent has started its production of juices and smoothies at its new production facility ‘the blender’ in the Port of Rotterdam.

The London-based drinks manufacturer worked in partnership with food and drink project delivery specialist, Integrated Food Projects – that is part of the NIRAS Group - to develop the $250 million plant in the Port of Rotterdam’s new Food Hub.

Strategically located for innocent’s UK and European market, the Rotterdam site enables innocent to bring its operations largely inhouse – meaning it can drive its own manufacturing carbon footprint.

incorporating innocent’s own solar panels and wind turbines

The new factory incorporates a number of different technologies to reduce and reuse natural resources.

For any further energy needs the blender will have its own solar panels and wind turbines, and road miles will also be reduced by 20 per cent, as a significant proportion of the fruit and juice raw materials arrive by sea in the Port of Rotterdam.

Working in partnership with Integrated Food Projects, innocent placed sustainability at the very heart of the project from day one – from planning to design, through to the build and operational running of the factory.

The result is the blender being the world’s most sustainable healthy drinks factory. As such, it is also a leading example of how a holistic approach to integrating sustainability within design can start to show how the drinks manufacturing sector can be better for people, the planet and business.

“We have been working alongside innocent on the blender since 2018, and it’s fantastic to see the first finished drinks being produced, bottled and shipped from the factory. Sustainability has been a focal point of the blender since day one of planning, and what has been achieved at the factory really does recalibrate the industry standard for what can be achieved in sustainability within the food and drink manufacturing sector,” says Andy Tebbutt, joint managing director at Integrated Food Projects.

innocent target is complete carbon neutrality by 2025

According to innocent, the success of the blender project is not least due to the efforts of Integrated Food Projects.

“The team at Integrated Food Projects has been integral to the success of the project. Alongside engineering expertise, they brought their vast experience of delivering sustainable factories to help determine where the factory should be built, the methods and equipment used and ultimately, how it should operate sustainably,” says Andy Joynson, chief blender at innocent.

According to Joynson, innocent has set a very ambitious climate target and the blender form an integral part of achieving these ambitions:

“the blender is an important first step in achieving our ambitious target of innocent being a completely carbon neutral business by 2025. Reducing our impact on the environment and dependence on natural resources is the responsibility of every business that works in the food and drink manufacturing sector. We believe the blender is a shining example of what can be achieved, and as such we are committed to inspiring other businesses by sharing our knowledge and experience of building sustainable factories.”