Ashbourne Meat Processors
Membership Status:
Approved until 31 May 2021
Sector:
Meat
About the company
Ashbourne Meat Processors is one of Ireland’s leading beef processors, exporting premium chilled Irish beef all over Europe and indeed the world since 1985 from cattle sourced locally at their abattoir in Roscrea, Co. Tipperary. The company was established by Jim McMahon and Danny Houlihan in 1985, which remains managed by the Houlihan and McMahon family today. Focused on sustainable development, Ashbourne Meats aims to reduce waste,carbon emission and electricity & water usage, and will continue to promote community engagement in line with sustainable ambitions of the company and Origin Green.
Key Sustainability Commitments
Committed to Responsible Sourcing:
Asbourne Meats sustainable policy begins with the farmers from whom they source their raw materials. Ashbourne Meats encourage best practice in Farm Safety. Ashbourne Meats are part of the Bord Bia Meat Processor Quality Assurance Scheme which in turn ensures they have elevated standards in relation to areas such as animal health and welfare, traceability, hygiene, HACCP, staff training and waste disposal.
With a focus on Research and Development:
Ashbourne Meats are also part of the Meat Technology Centre Ireland which ensures the best practice in research is carried out thus ensuring Ireland will remain a market leader in Meat quality & knowledge. Their targets have been set, and these goals will be met and like the last 30 years Ashbourne Meats will continue to work towards a sustainable future.
Exemplary Performance Target Areas
Minimum Origin Green Targets Required Annually = 6
Spotlight Target Area: Water Reduction
Ashbourne Meats have served the world for the past 35 years and would like to continue to serve the world for the next 35 years and beyond. To achieve this business ambition they realised that they must embed sustainability at the heart of their business strategy by joining the Origin Green programme 7 years ago. After successfully implementing their first 5 year Origin Green plan that covered 2013-2018, the company is now on their second Origin Green Plan focusing on 2019-2023 and it covers their 2 sites at Roscrea and Naas.
Led by Donal Houlihan, Ashbourne’s cross-functional sustainability team set a target of reducing water by 5% in m3 /tonne for both sites from 2018 -end of 2023. This was a considerable target given that they were now on their second plan and that they had already made significant reductions in the previous 5 years.
Water Efficiency Across the Board
In 2019 they achieved a reduction from 2018 (m 3 per tonne) of 13.3% in Roscrea and 12.3% in Naas. These reductions were achieved by an increased focus on water efficiency across the two sites that allowed the team to spot opportunities that led to the removal of unnecessary sinks and sterilisers from the boning hall thus replacing the need for a constant flow of water and replacing the dip tank in Naas which a more efficient model.
“This is a fantastic recognition to our last 35 years achievements of sustainable production & development. Huge efforts has been put in by everyone at Ashbourne Meats to continue our drive to become carbon neutral by 2030.”
Danny Houlihan, MD
