AS it strives to be the greenest company in Britain ice cream producer Mackie's of Scotland is installing a new refrigeration system set to be one of the most sophisticated in Europe.
In a £4million project, the luxury ice cream brand will replace its existing freezing equipment with low carbon, power efficient units run on ammonia - a natural refrigerant gas that poses no threat to the environment.
The innovative combined solution will cool Mackie's ice cream with heat from a biomass boiler, powered by a sustainable energy source.
This will be Scotland's first large scale plant combining biomass heat and absorption chilling, enabling Mackie's to target ambitious CO2e reductions of 90% and energy costs of 70-80%.
The £4 million project is being brought to life thanks to a grant from the Scottish Government Government's Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme, match funded by Mackie's through a loan from Bank of Scotland.
The investment will be open as a demonstrator project in the hope that its success will inspire other Scottish fish, meat and dairy food manufacturers to adopt similar energy-efficient technology.
Mackie's is changing the gas that it uses in its refrigeration plants from HCFC gases - which have a very high global warming potential - to ammonia, which has zero global warming potential.
Gerry Stephens, Finance Director at Mackie's of Scotland, said: "Our ultimate aim is to one day go completely off-grid and use 100% renewable energy. This is an important step towards realising these green ambitions.
"We're very excited about this project as, the technologies involved are tried-and-tested methods but have not been commonly combined to produce a low-carbon, low-energy solution for cold store refrigeration.
"With Bank of Scotland's support we are realising our green ambitions and, in the long run, we hope that our new system will set a precedent and make the energy-intensive food and drink sector more sustainable.
Mackie's already produces over 10 million litres of ice cream every year using more than 70% renewable energy thanks to its Aberdeenshire farm's wind turbines and solar panels.
Marc Gilmour, Relationship Director, Bank of Scotland, said: "Since the first production of ice cream in 1986, Mackie's have been leaders in low carbon initiatives and renewables.
"This project will help the Scottish Government to meet its Energy Strategy targets, which aim to generate 50 per cent of Scotland's heat, transport and electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2030.
"Bank of Scotland is fully committed to playing a key role in funding Scotland's transition to a green economy and helping Britain prosper. By utilising our expertise and Clean Growth Finance Initiative we want to make business' green projects happen.
"Bank of Scotland has also committed to helping businesses in Scotland become more green. This is supported by a commitment to train 450 relationship managers by June on sustainability in partnership with the University of Cambridges' Institute for Sustainability Leadership."
Planning permission is now being sought and a project manager has been employed with the target to begin foundation work before the summer.
About Mackie's of Scotland:
Firmly established as one of the UK's most popular take-home ice creams, Mackie's diversified into making crisps in 2009.
Adding a dedicated £600,000 chocolate factory to its Aberdeenshire home farm in 2014, Mackie's has since achieved substantial new contracts for its chocolate, including initial deals with Tesco and Sainsbury's, with new domestic contracts including the Co-op, Morrisons and Asda.
Mackie's produces milk and cream used to make its famous ice cream. In keeping with its sky to scoop' philosophy, the Aberdeenshire firm also produces everything from renewable energy to its own packaging. As it aims to be the greenest company in the UK, it has invested in a range of green concepts to do their bit for the environment.
Mackie's renewable energy generation
Wind Turbines: Mackie's wind turbines (3 x Vestas V52 850kW Turbines, 1 x Enercon E48 500kW Turbine) are installed in the windiest place in Europe, allowing Mackie's to generate 8500MWh of electricity per year.
Solar power: Though, Mackie's primary source of renewable energy is the wind, it has also installed 1.974 MW of solar panels. We have a 1.8MW ground mounted installation at the top of the hill, which was Scotland's largest solar farm when commissioned in November 2015 and a further 174kW on the roof of the cowshed that, when sunny, powers the cowshed and the milking robots, replacing their use of grid energy. The solar energy complements the wind turbines as the winds are lighter in the summer months when the sun is shining.
Biomass: In 2015 Mackie's installed two Froeling 200kW biomass boilers to replace oil fired heating boilers in the office and in staff housing. This burns sustainable and locally sourced wood chip to produce heating and hot water to eight farm cottages and the main office and removes the need to burn heating oil.
Recycling: Mackie's recycle cardboard, plastic, wood, batteries and metal. The cardboard and plastic is baled and collected by a recycling partner. Furthermore, the office recycles paper, cans, toner cartridges, batteries, mobile phones and plastic. The ice cream tubs of Mackie's are also fully recyclable.
Arboretum: About 150 acres of the Aberdeenshire farm has been planted with trees and an arboretum is in early stages of growth, helping reduce carbon levels. The trees were planted by Halldis Mackie, during her retirement, who dedicated much of her time to the creation of an arboretum on the farm. It is a collection of 147 trees, so far, with 112 different species of trees from 34 families.
Zero waste water: At Mackie's they have their own water source, and recycle all the wash-down water back into the slurry lagoon for spreading back on the land.
Natural fertiliser: The slurry from the cows is pumped up to the slurry lagoon on top of the hill and mixed with the waste water. It is then used as natural fertiliser and spread on our fields via four miles of pipe work on the farm, reducing the amount of commercial fertiliser products needed and the fossil fuels used to manufacture it.
Issued on behalf of Mackie's of Scotland by www.holyroodpr.co.uk.
Further information from Catriona Conway-Mortimer, on 0131 561 2249 or catriona@holyroodpr.co.uk
For press information about the Bank of Scotland contact:
Melissa Clark on 0131 460 9769 or melissa.clark@citypress.co.uk
