Impact Report2023

Sustainability is part of who weare at Butternut. As a purpose
driven company, we know that
we can’t be the industry leadersin Fresh dog food without caring
about our impact.
We also know that the only way to be
successful for the long haul is by doing
business in a way that considers the needsof all our partners - our customers, oursquad, our communities, and of course,
the environment.
Whilst we hold our paws up and acknowledge
this is not something that can be achieved
overnight, we are incredibly proud of the
progress we have made so far and arecommitted to continually finding ways
to improve.

2

Contents
05

Our Purpose

06

Our Impact

22

Our Squad07

Our Values

27

Charity08

2023 Highlights

09

B Corp32

Responsible Sourcing

10

How we manage our impact at Butternut

35

Packaging

12

Planet37

Nutrition

15

Energy

17

Water

18

Waste

20

Recipe Carbon

21

31

41

PeopleProduct

What’s next3

2023 has seen Butternut
grow in so many ways.
We ended the year feeding 250,000
happy and healthy dogs, we welcomed
the PsiBufet team and brand, we expanded
into the French speaking part of Belgium
and we secured investment for the next
phase of the Butternut journey.
This has not only helped us move forwardin our purpose to deliver health andhappiness to dogs all over the world, but
we are also incredibly proud to have madea positive difference to the planet andpeople along the way.
In 2023, we significantly reduced
the carbon intensity of our recipes.
We introduced Paws Days and our
first ever sabbatical policy to enhance
the wellbeing, learning, and developmentof our squad.
To further support our local communities,
we increased the number of our charity
partners and the hours volunteered acrossall locations.

We also partnered with Sedex to help
us manage and improve social andenvironmental sustainability in our supply
chain and introduced two new lower
carbon protein meals to our Fresh range.
We have ambitious plans to expand our
impact further in 2024, including investingin cutting-edge heat recovery technology
between our new Ace’s Pantry fulfilment
centre and Rudie’s Kitchen, kickstarting
our path towards a zero emission factory
and allowing us to build on these learnings
in the design of our new SAMS factoryin Poland.
We hope you enjoy reading about ourprogress so far and share our excitement
for the future.

Kev & Dave4

Our purpose“We exist to deliver
health and happiness todogs and their humans
all over the world”

5Our impact“Doing business in a way that reduces ourenvironmental impact as well as making
a positive difference to our squad, local
communities and customers”

So, whilst our mission is to deliver health and happinessto dogs and their humans everywhere, we also know theimportance of balancing this with the needs of our squad,communities, customers, and good old mother nature.
Without this balance, Butternut and, let’s face it, oursociety for future generations could not continue in thelong term.

PeoplePlanetProfitProduct

Purpose6

Our values
At Butternut, our values are central to who weare and how we behave as a business.
So it’s not surprising that these values are directly linked to how
we manage our impact, ensuring that as we grow as a business,
we do it in a way that reduces our environmental impact andmakes a positive difference to people as well as pooches.

Dedicated and determined
Open and honest
Genuine care
Strive for betterAll for the love of DOGS

7

2023
Highlights
2023 was a great year for us,
in terms of our impact and our
purpose to deliver health andhappiness to dogs, people andthe planet.
Here are some of our more
impactful highlights from 2023.

CO20.36 kg
CO2e/kg productthe average carbon
emissions associatedwith cooking our mealsan 8% reduction vs 2022
across Scopes 1&2

82,960physical meals
donated to dogs
in needIntroduced 2 newlower carbon protein
grain meals

246

new squad members
across four markets

over£120,000
donated to animal andpeople charities

77%

of waste recycled orconverted into biogas- over 1,800 tonnes

JoinedSedex
platform

Introduced Paws
days for wellbeing,learning anddevelopment andour first eversabbatical policy

Added 5 new health andwellness additional
products/treats toimprove dental, gut
health and well-being.

Achieved a BRCGS Food
Safety certification

AA grade

1052
HOURS
of volunteering

78

wellbeing eventsfor our squad

8.7%

average reduction inCO2e emissions per kg
food delivered forall markets acrossScopes 1, 2 and 3

amazing charity
partners

Completed firstresearch study on
impact of feeding
Fresh on the canine
gut microbiome

We’ve saved over
67,000 kg of CO2e
by our meals being
delivered on allelectric vehicles.

16

8

B Corp
We are incredibly proud to be a B Corp,
certifying as one of the first 1000 B
Corps in the UK in September 2022,
achieving a score of 82.6.
On a practical level, certifying as a
B Corp means that we went throughan incredibly rigorous assessment of all
the ways we manage our environmental
and social impact.
But becoming part of this very sought
after community means so much morethan that. It is our way of making apublic commitment to balance profit
with purpose and be accountable to all
our stakeholders, including our squad,communities, customers, suppliers,
shareholders and the environment - yes
Nature does have a place at our table.
Woof.
We also know that by becoming a B Corp,
we have a responsibility to not only
grow our own impact, but be a leaderof change and force for good for ourcustomers, industry and society.

Our score: 82.6
We put a lot of work into certifying backin 2022, but we know that being a B Corp
is a journey not a destination. So, we arecontinually adapting and finding ways
to ensure our business grows in a waythat also cares for people, planet and ofcourse, pups.
Using the B Corp framework as our guide,
we set ambitious goals and regularly
check our progress. And when it’stime for us to recertify in 2025, we canhopefully show how much we strive toensure that as Butternut grows, so does
our impact.

(split across the following)

Environment

13.7

Customers

Governance

15.8

4.0

20.1

28.8

Communities
Workers

What is a B Corp?

businesses“Certified B Corporations arerds of verified
that meet the highest standa
formance, publicsocial and environmental per
ountability
transparency, and legal acc
e. B Corps areto balance profit and purpos
e shift toaccelerating a global cultur
and build a more
redefine success in businessnomy.”
inclusive and sustainable eco
B Corporation

9

How we manage our
impact at Butternut
We all know that everything in sustainability
is incredibly interconnected so that making
progress in one area can have a knock-on
effect on another.
We also know that improving our overall impact asa business depends on making progress acrossall of these areas. But as with any goal, it is mucheasier to manage and work towards when you
break it down into smaller, bite-sized pieces.

Our framework is based on the
3 core pillars of sustainability:

PlanetPeopleProduct
With individual work-streams within them,this allows us to set goals, track and use
the best methods, teams and tools to move
forward in each area.
And although sustainability is pretty muchpart of conversations on a daily basis here at
Butternut, we make sure the whole squad is
engaged by sharing updates on our impact
journey on a regular basis.

10

PeoplePlanetEnergyGas
Electricity
Operational
Carbon

Water

Inbound
Effluent

Waste
RecipeCarbonProduct

Squad

Diversity ,Equity& Inclusion (DEI)
Training & Development
Engagement Wellbeing

Responsible
Sourcing

Environment Social& Governance
Animal Welfare

Charity

Volunteering
Donations

Packaging

ReduceRecycleReuse

Customers

Comms
Education

Nutrition

Ingredients
Cooking process
Feeding Guidelines
Research

General Waste
Food Waste

Life Cycle
Assessment

B Corp11

PlanetOur Planet pillar is about all the ways wemanage our impact on the environment.
This includes monitoring the carbon emissions from ourown energy usage, as well as from our upstream anddownstream activities, to how much water we use andwhat we do with our waste.
We have been calculating both the carbon footprint of ourentire business and that of each of our products for nearly
3 years now.

12

PlanetBusiness carbon footprint
Since we use the GHG (Greenhouse Gas) protocol to calculate
our emissions, we calculate the emissions from all ourbusiness activities using the following scopes or buckets.

Scope 1

To make sure our carbon footprint is as accurate as
possible, we try to use activity data for the majorityof our calculations and only rely on a spend based
approach for a small amount. This is because activity
data is much more accurate. It uses actual metrics
such as amounts of gas, or weights of ingredients wepurchase, while a spend based approach is based on
how much money we spend.
Using an activity based approach does take a lot
more effort but each year we strive to increase ouruse of activity data to calculate our carbon footprint.

Gas we to use to steam cook our meals
making up 6.1% of our total emissions.

Carbon footprint by activity
Gas Power

Scope 2
Electricity we purchase to refrigerate
and freeze our meals. 0% using a market
based approach as we only purchaserenewable electricity or 1.2 % using
a location based approach.

6.1%
Supplier Miles

0.8%
Packaging

5.2%

Purchased
Goods

4.4%
Downstream
Transport

0.9%

Ingredients

Scope 3Emissions from literally everything else that we dofrom the ingredients we purchase, to the transportation
to and from Rudie’s Kitchen and all of our spend on
services we use, business travel and capital projects.
This, like most other food businesses, makes up thevast majority of our emissions at 93%.

82.0%

As with other food manufacturing businesses,
the vast majority of the carbon emissions fromour business activities is generated by ourprocessing and the ingredients we purchase.

13PlanetProduct carbon
footprint

Packaging
Processing
Transportation
Supplier to Rudie’s
Transportation
Warehouse to Customer
81.7%

End of Life (waste)

Carbon footprint by recipe

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Ga
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Po

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Calculating the carbon footprint ofeach of our recipes from the farm
all the way to the end of their life,
has helped us pinpoint our emission‘hotspots’ and understand where tofocus our efforts.

Raw Materials

4.9%

Be
ef

We include carbon emissions at
every stage, from the growing andrearing of our ingredientsto disposing of our pouches.
The only stage we don’t include
right now is the energy used byour customers for freezing andrefrigeration, because there is notenough reliable data available.

3.5%
8.7%

kg Co2e / kg product

Along with calculating the overall
carbon footprint of all our businessactivities, we also measure thecarbon footprint of each of ourrecipes—our product footprint—
using Life Cycle Assessments(LCAs).

Carbon footprint across all our products combined

And not surprisingly,
if you look at ouringredients, thebiggest emitters arefrom our red meatrecipes with beef
being the highest
by far.
The reason for thisis because of all
the emissions tied
to things like landuse, water and ofcourse the methane
they produce
themselves, thanks
to their ruminantdigestive systems.
We are working withsome amazing livestock
farmers who are coming
up with innovative ways
to reduce their carbon
emissions including
using feed supplements
to reduce the amountof methane the cattle
produce and switching
their energy usage
from fossil fuels
to renewable.
14PlanetEnergyReducing our energy use andtrying to use energy sourcesthat generate minimal or zero
harmful emissions is one of themost direct ways we have to
reduce our carbon emissions.
This is why we are continually working to cut
down on the gas we use to cook our meals
and purchase 100% renewable electricity.

15Planet

Gas

Electricity

We set ourselves an ambitious 10%
reduction target in 2023 to reduce thecarbon emissions from our gas usage
per kg of food we produced and we camewithin a dog’s whisker of reaching it
achieving an average 0.36 kg CO2e/kg
of food produced.

And even though we purchase 100% of
our electricity from renewable sources,
we still monitor and work to reduce ourusage here as we still source from the
National Grid that generates electricity
from a variety of sources, including
fossil fuels as well as renewables.

One of the main ways we did this is bymassively increasing our efficiency bysimply cooking more meals with thesame amount of gas.

As with our gas, cooking more meals
really helped reduce our electricity
usage but we also managed to achievea big step reduction of 5% by reducing
the voltage to our site.

But we also made a major improvement
to our process, investing in a state of theart Reverse Osmosis system to make thewater to our boilers cleaner and in turn
reducing the gas they need to run. Bit
like the water softeners we use for our
kettles at home.

CCA
In addition to setting
ambitious targets of ourown, we continue to workwithin the limits of our
Climate Change Agreementwith the Environment
Agency to reduce our gas
and electricity use per
tonne of food we produce.

We have also invested in a string ofadditional electricity meters to map out
our energy usage at every point of ourmanufacturing process to make it eveneasier to identify hotspots and drive
initiatives to further reduce our usage.
16

Planet

Water
Monitoring and controlling our water
usage is as important as managing
the energy we use, so we continuallyfine tune our processes to maximisewater conservation as well as reduce
our carbon emissions.
This has included:
Installing the Reverse Osmosis water filtration system,
reducing the need to change the water in our boilers aswell as reducing the gas they use.
Installing dedicated point of use water meters to eachand every cleaning hose in our factory.
Reducing the water used by our cooling towers - cool eh!

17PlanetWaste
We have been a zero waste tolandfill site since we opened thedoors of our operations facility,
Rudie’s Kitchen back in 2021.
But we know that reducing our impact on
the environment does not end there so weare continually looking for ways to reduce
the amount of waste that we generate andincrease the amount that we recycle.

Recycling
We more than doubled the amount of waste
sent for recycling at our factory. Thanks toliterally rooting through the contents of ourgeneral waste bins (yep, really) we were able
to work out where we could be recycling more.
Based on this, we have now increased recycling
collection points on our floors, reduced
the number of waste collections and have
expanded the stuff that we recycle throughnew waste management partnerships.

By the end of 2023, 77% of our total waste or 1,800
tonnes was either recycled or converted into biogas.

18PlanetFood waste
As a business that is all about food, reducing food waste issomething that is close to our hearts.
Our cooking process at Rudie’s Kitchen is built to minimise
food waste, only generating 4.6% last year throughachieving an 8% reduction per tonne of food produced.

Any food waste that we do produce at our factory we send to an Anaerobic Digestion
plant to be turned into biogas and fertiliser. This year, we’ve even teamed up with amore local provider, cutting our road miles by over 11,000 miles a year.

We also regularly donate any unsold surplus meals to our animal welfare charities partners.
Recently we extended this to a brilliant charity near to Rudie’s Kitchen called Food Works whose
mission is to fight climate change and food insecurity. They make sure that our surplus meals
are put to good use by making them available to the local Sheffield community.

And of course, our feeding guidelines are set up to ensure that our portions andrecipe plans are tailored to the age, breed and size of each dog. This, combinedwith achieving average palatability scores of 4 out of 5 on all our recipes, meansthat there should be minimal food waste when it comes to the dogs we feed.
19PlanetRecipecarbonIn addition to calculating the carbon
footprint of each of our recipes —their product footprint — we link
this to our forecasted ‘businessas usual’ demand, giving us thecomplete carbon footprint for all therecipes we deliver to our customers.
We refer to these as our ‘Recipe Carbon’emissions. They allow us to consider our
carbon emission impact when making
product development, sourcing, or
merchandising-related discussions, as well
as set more meaningful targets that we canplan for and track our progress against.

For 2023, we were able to achieve an incredible
8.7% reduction on our total recipe carbon emissions
per kg delivered compared to where we were in 2022.
This was no mean feat despite being a growing business.
We managed to achieve this through a combination ofeagle-eyed monitoring and some key initiatives including:• Introducing two lower-carbon protein meals Tuck in Chicken and Pork of the Town.
• Encouraging customers to shift their preferences more
to lower carbon meals.
• Launching lower carbon meal recipes in our new PolishFresh dog food brand PsiBufet.
• Adding in-account box delivery tracking for customers
reducing instances of food waste.
• Partnering with delivery couriers who are making
incredible progress in reducing their own carbon
emissions through transitioning their fleet toelectric or hybrid vehicles that are increasingly
powered off renewable energy sources, or using
other low emission technologies.

20

PeopleWhether it be our squad, our local communities
or our customers, our social impact and making a
positive difference to people’s lives is incredibly
important to our value of #GenuineCare andsuccess as a business.

21

PeopleOur squad
Our squad, consists of over 750
dedicated and caring people working
across the UK and Europe.
Our People team’s mission has always been to make
Butternut the best place you have ever worked. In
2023, we’ve continued this focus through nurturing
a culture where you can belong, succeed and have alaugh along the way.
As a business, 2023 was all about going from good togreat with many milestones along the way. To name afew, we welcomed the PsiBufet team into Butternut,
provided more quality and delightful experiences forour customers and secured new investment for the
next phase of the Butternut journey.
With Butternut growing, it was important forour squad to grow and develop alongside thesemilestones. The focus in the past 12 months has
been on individual & team performance, creating
special moments to celebrate the wins and progressand ensuring that everything we do is fair, inclusiveand compliant.
22

PeopleTraining &wellbeing

As we’ve grown a lot overthe past eight years, we’ve
continued to focus on our growth
being sustainable by offering
more opportunities to our squad.

Here are some of the ways Butternut isstriving to be a place where people canprogress and develop in their careers:

Revamped career steps framework at Butternut:•••

This defines behaviours and skills for squad members at all levels.
Offers transparency on performance expectations and career
progression routes.
Ensures fair pay and consistent progression.

Operations focus at Rudie’s Kitchen:•••

Structured training programs around Values,
Leadership, DE&I, and Compliance.
Operational training programs to develop skills.
Over 70 promotions in the last year due to effective
training and team commitment.

Expanded development offering:••

Squad members visit Rudie’s Kitchen during onboarding.
Offers a site tour, food safety & quality learning, andsensory panel taste-testing. Yum.

Mental wellbeing support for squad:•

Funding for counselling, therapy, mental wellbeing books, or apps.

23

PeopleAt Butternut, we’re proud of our squad members who
do great work for our customers, consistently strive
for better and contribute towards making Butternut agreat place to work. We recognise that, as a business,
we have experienced a great deal of growth & change.
It can often require periods of intense work and focus.
With this in mind, we were excited to provide two new
benefits to all squad members.
Paws Days are additional leave days provided
to squad members to focus on wellbeing and/or
learning & development.
Our Sabbatical Policy to valued squad members
who’ve been with us for over five years provides squadmembers with an opportunity to take an extended
break from work to rejuvenate, pursue personal
interests, and engage in activities that promotepersonal and professional growth.

24

PeopleDiversity,
equity &inclusion
Our commitment to DE&I
(Diversity, Equity & Inclusion)is ongoing. We prioritise actionin areas of impact as we learn
more about our squad.

We foster a respectful workplace, andprovide annual Anti-Bullying and AntiHarassment training. Lunch and learn
sessions cover diverse topics, with 90%
of our squad feeling part of the team.

We actively recruit diverse talent, mitigate
biases in hiring through structured processes,
aim for 40% diversity in first interviews, andsupport initiatives like Codebar.

Visit our website to read our gender pay gap summaryand learn more about the ways we are committing todignity, trust and respect within the working environment.

25

PeopleCommunity& celebration

At Butternut, we believe inmaking a positive impact on thecommunities we engage with,whether in London, Doncaster,
Amsterdam, Warsaw or Dublin.

Celebrating successes, both big and small,is a fundamental part of our culture. We
recognise that as a company and team, weare continuously evolving, but taking time
to appreciate the progress we’ve made isessential to us.

In 2023, we accomplished the following:
We volunteered over 1000
hours with our charity partners

We partnered with suppliers
that represent marginalised
groups to host teamlunches and social events,
celebrating and recognising
DE&I events such as Black
History Month, International
Women’s Day, and PRIDE.

We introduced more ways toconnect with our squad and hear
their ideas, through our weekly
Coffee & Connects at Rudie’s
Kitchen and launching our first
Culture Squad at our London office.

We celebrated our milestones,
including welcoming our new
squad members from Poland at
our annual Great Butternut Get
Together, where everyone acrossthe business came together.

Rudie’s Kitchen, was awarded an AA grade
recognition from BRCGS Food Safety
certification audits, an improvement fromthe previous year. A highlight ofour team’s unwavering dedication
to providing only the highest
quality food for dogs.

We held our BARK (Butternut Annual
Recognition & Kudos) awards ceremony
to acknowledge team members who
have gone above and beyond in linewith our values.

As we look forward, we’ll keep doing everything we can to make everyone at Butternut Box feel that they are growing and that they
belong. This includes everything from reviewing our benefits offering, continuous improvement of our hiring & internal mobility
processes and offering ways to receive meaningful feedback and development opportunities. To measure our progress, we carryout annual DE&I and engagement surveys to get hold of data that helps us plan for the future.
26

PeopleCharity
Our charity mission is “To provide safe
shelter, basic care, and full bellies todogs in need. Everywhere.”
As a B Corp, we also know that our success
rests on the success of those around us sogiving back - whether it be through our animal
charity partnerships or volunteering in our
local communities - is an integral part of who
we are and core to our value of #Genuine Care.

27

PeopleDonate a meal to a dog in needAs part of our charity mission to improve the lives of dogs
everywhere, we donate a meal to a dog in need for every
new customer and every advent calendar sold. We also
regularly donate any unsold surplus stock to our animal
charity partners. This year we’ve extended donating
our meals to a human food bank charity, local to Rudie’s
Kitchen, to help feed dogs in the Sheffield community andhave also donated food to dogs in Ukraine.

Funding projects
Our support to our charity partners also includes helping
fund projects that align with our purpose, such as thepurchase of freezers, building new kennels and play areas
to improve the lives of the dogs that are in their care.

Volunteering
We give every member of our squad one day a year tovolunteer their time to our charity partners. In 2023, thisincluded helping out with gardening or DIY, dog walking,collecting and packing food donations or teaching coding
skills and doing career talks.
As we grow, we strive to ensure that our charity impact
grows alongside us. In 2023, we collaborated with 16
amazing charities across all our locations in the UK, Ireland,
Netherlands, Belgium, and Poland—double the number we
28
supported in 2022.

PeopleCharity
partners
UK and Ireland
Foal Farm
An animal rescue centre giving abandoned
and unwanted dogs a second chance.

Mayflower Sanctuary
A rescue and rehoming centre for dogs andcats near Rudie’s Kitchen.

Dogs4Rescue A unique dog rescue
where dogs live together in a kennel freeenvironment.

Bassetlaw Foodbank A charitableorganisation that distributes food to those
who have difficulty purchasing enough to
avoid hunger.

Inspiring the Future

Netherlands and Belgium

A charitable initiative connecting people
from the world of work with schools andcolleges to provide careers and higher
education guidance to young people.

Koninklijke
Hondenbescherming

Codebar

The Dutch Royal Association for theProtection of Dogs.

A charity that facilitates the growth of
a diverse tech community by runningfree regular programming workshops forminority groups in tech.

Dierenasiel Gent

Foodworks Sheffield

PolandA charitable organisation that combats
climate change and food insecurity bycollecting surplus food, supporting local
growers, and educating the community.

ISPCA
An animal welfare charity in Irelandspecialising in rescue, animal welfare andpreventing animal cruelty.

Wicklow Animal Welfare

A charity dedicated to rescuing,
rehabilitating, and rehoming dogs, cats,
Hammersmith & Fulham Food Bankand horses from all over the Wicklow
Part of a nationwide network of food banks,
county and beyond.
working to combat poverty and hunger acrossthe UK.

Animal shelter in Ghent that gives
abandoned dogs and cats the chance ofa new home.

Karmimy Psiaki Foundation
A charitable foundation that supports
abandoned dogs and cats in shelters
throughout Poland with resources,
rehoming, veterinary care andcampaigns.

Nowy Dwor Mazowiecki,
Józefów, Celestynów andMałe Boże Animal Shelters
Rescue and rehoming centres for dogs
and cats just outside of Warsaw.

29

PeopleHighlights
1776

Worked with

82,960physical meals were donatedto dogs in need.

additional physical productdonations made (including
treats and extras)

We donated over

We completed

1,052

8 new charity
partners

We donated two freezers
and loads of bouncy balls.

hours of volunteering.

£120,000

either in financial support
or product donations.

All thanks to our wonderful customers and squad.
We are working on some big initiatives for 2024 to ensure that our giving is inline with our growth and to continue to make a positive difference to the livesof both dogs and humans everywhere.

30

ProductWhilst everything we do to manage our
impact on the environment, our squad,local communities, and customers is
related to our product, managing our
impact in Responsible Sourcing andPackaging isn’t achievable only throughinternal changes; it depends on working
collaboratively with our suppliers.
Nutrition is within our Product pillar as improving thehealth and happiness of dogs through our food is thecore of what we do.

31

Product

Responsible
sourcing
Sourcing from suppliers who do business whilst
also caring about their impact on the environment,
and who maintain the same ethical and workforce
standards for their squad as our own, is a big part ofour sustainability efforts and benefits both the wider
planet and society.
That’s why we strive to maintain close relationships
with suppliers who share the same values.

32

Product

As our supply base grows in number andcomplexity, we know that transparency
within our supply chain will become harder
to maintain.
So, at the end of 2023 we joined forces with Sedex,
a platform that will not only help us to assess andmanage social and environmental sustainability in
our supply chain, but also work together with our
suppliers to improve standards for all.
Our goal is to make this a key part of our supplieronboarding and governance process and for the
majority of our existing suppliers to be on theplatform by the end of 2024.

In addition to some great initiatives that we haveworked on with our packaging suppliers, that you cansee in our Packaging section, here are some of the otherimprovements we’ve made to improve sustainability in our
upstream and downstream supply chain.
We’re now sourcing our poo bags from
StarchBag, a company in Poland instead ofChina, helping to cut our transport emissions
whilst still enabling us to offer a product that isplant based and is EN13432 certified so can be
broken down safely in home compost within amatter of weeks.

MemberAll of our delivery couriers are setting
science-based Net Zero targets and making
significant progress towards achieving them.
They are transitioning their fleets to electricor hybrid vehicles increasingly poweredby renewable energy sources and utilising
low-emission technologies such as biogas,
hydrogen, or bicycles for more local, smallerdeliveries. DPD, which delivers nearly 60% of ourmeals, has already saved over 67,000 kg of CO2e
by using all-electric vehicles for deliveries.

33

Product

Packaging
We work hard to ensure all of our packaging is recyclable
at home, or through in store recycling schemes, using LDPE
plastic for our treats, extras and ice packs and FSC sourced
cardboard boxes, toppers and leaflets.
This even includes our Woolcool insulation, that in itself isa more natural alternative to plastic insulation, where the
MDPE plastic can go into soft plastic recycling schemes
and the 100% pure wool inner is EN13432 certified so canbe popped into home compost bins.

pouches themselves. Doing it this way, allows us to cook atlower temperatures, which helps lock in the freshness andflavour without the need to add any additives or preservatives
and gives our food digestibility scores upwards of 95% without
creating any food waste and in a highly food safe environment.
So we continue to work closely with our suppliers to develop
a more sustainable solution and we even now have our own
dedicated packaging technologist to focus on this.

And of course, for all our UK customers, there’s no need todispose of our Woolcool at all, as we provide free returns on
our website so that it can be cleaned and reused. Or if you
would prefer, there are lots of creative ways that you
can upcycle it in and around your own home and beyond,just take a look at the Woolcool website or #letsboxclever onsocial media for inspiration. Slugs beware…
However, the one area where we’ve still not found a recyclable
material is for our meal pouches. They’re made using a
combination of plastics that can withstand our unique cooking
and freezing process, because we cook our meals in the34

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In the meantime, we’ve been working on lotsof other ways to reduce the environmental
impact from our packaging.

Reducing
packaging
We have focussed on designing out waste to
reduce the amount of packaging we createin the first place, one of the key steps inbuilding a circular economy and also cutting
down on our carbon footprint by using lessraw materials, less transport emissions andless waste generated.

We’ve continued to work with our suppliers to increase the supplyof protein blocks where all the packaging has been removed to 75%.
Not only reducing the amount of packaging in our supply chain
but also, our carbon footprint from delivery miles.

We are very nearly there on a really exciting initiative to reduce thethickness of our meal film used in the bottom of our pouches by 20%
that will reduce the plastic we use by a chunky 12% or 60 tonnes.
And since there will be less packaging to transport, this should also
remove 3 full truck deliveries from our supplier, saving 3500 road
miles as well as improve the speed we process our meals saving onenergy by reducing the number of reel changeovers.

We have also started trials on reducing the number of ice packpillows we use in our boxes from 4 pillows to 1, allowing thesame insulation but reducing the amount of plastic used by asmuch as 3 tonnes a year.
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Reducing packaging
transport miles
We have focused on reducing the supplier miles
for our Woolcool insulation by squeezing more
into the same sized boxes and are working
next year on increasing the size of the boxes
themselves so that less pallets are used.

Increasing recyclable
materials in our packaging
Where we can, we also look for ways toincrease the amount of recycled material in our
secondary packaging, moving to a pallet wrapthat now includes 30% recycled LDPE.
We are already working on more creative ways
to reduce the packaging on some of our treats
and extras by reducing the headspace andincreasing the reel sizes of the top film of ourpouches reducing core waste, pallets used andand transport emissions so watch this space.
36

ProductNutrition
We are committed to providing complete andbalanced dog food for all life stages, ensuring
every meal supports a dog’s health and happiness.
Whole ingredients, gently cooked, for optimal nutrition
Our Fresh dog food skips excessive processing. It uses whole,minimally processed ingredients that are gently cooked at 90°C
to preserve their natural nutrients.
Our ingredients are of human quality, ensuring quality andtraceability throughout our supply chain. Our transparent
labelling ensures that customers know what’s in their dog’s
bowl—no surprises.
Our 12 recipes are created and maintained by pet foodformulators against FEDIAF nutritional guidelines and approvedby a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, guaranteeing thatthey meet the highest standards of pet nutrition.
We also collaborate with customers and their dogs to taste-test
any tweaks to our meals, ensuring they are always as good as or
better than what we have today.
37
37

Product2023 Product Launches:
Expanding Tastes and Textures
We introduced two new meals to our Fresh range,
incorporating new whole ingredients like apple, swede,
protein-packed quinoa, and high-fibre pearl barley. Thesenutritionally rich additions added more choice, tastes,
and textures to our range and used chicken and pork
meats selected for their lower carbon emission profiles tosupport environmental sustainability.
We faced the challenge of the avian flu epidemic in Europe,
which disrupted our ability to reliably source guinea fowl
for our Game recipe. We took this opportunity to shorten

the distance for ingredient sourcing and simplify our
supply. We carefully reformulated the recipe to remove
wild boar and guinea fowl and included venison and duckto ensure that we could continue to permanently supply
this novel-ingredient meal to our customers without it
being a limited edition.
Our additional product line has expanded with five new
products to include health and wellness offerings tailoredto dogs’ specific nutritional and wellness needs. Our
launches focused on dental health, reactive and proactive
gut health maintenance and daily supplements designed
to be tasty but promote calmness and well-being throughscientifically proven ingredients.

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Impact of feeding Fresh on the canine gut microbiome
We studied the link between different diets and the gut microbiome ofhome-based dogs across the UK. As the most extensive home-based,cross-sectional, multi-breed study, our research provides valuable
insights into the benefits of feeding Fresh.
Our study revealed several significant benefits of feedingdogs Fresh food over more traditional pet food diets:
Higher Nutrient Availability:
Increased protein degradation and butyrate synthesis suggestthat Fresh food provides more bioavailable nutrients, which
are crucial for optimal health.

That was quite science-y. Essentially,a Fresh diet provides dogs with moreeasily absorbed nutrients, fewer harmful
bacteria linked to health issues, andmore beneficial bacteria, supporting ahealthier and more resilient gut.

Improved Gut Microbiome Composition:
Significantly lower levels of Proteobacteria and Sutterella,bacteria associated with adverse health conditions such as
obesity, acute diarrhoea, and inflammatory bowel disease,indicating that a Fresh diet fosters a healthier gut environment,
reducing the prevalence of potentially harmful bacteria.

Enhanced Microbial Diversity:
Fresh diets were associated with increased richness and evennessof beneficial bacteria, contributing to a more balanced andresilient gut microbiome.
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Enhancing Skin
and Coat HealthAlongside studying the microbiome, we
also examined the impact of our meals
on dogs’ overall skin and coat health.
We found that dogs fed our Fresh meals
had better skin hydration and reduced
water loss through the skin.
High-quality, minimally processed
ingredients provide essential nutrientssuch as fatty acids, vitamins, andpolyphenols, which are crucial for skinhealth. When gently cooked, these
ingredients become highly digestible,
allowing dogs to absorb and utilise thenutrients more effectively, resulting inskin and coat health.

40Environment

What’snext?

We will be reducing:
Our energy usage through implementing:• First stage of a heat recovery process between our
new fulfilment centre and factory.
• More efficient steam ovens.
• On-site PV electricity generation at our new fulfilment centre.
• Trials for non-destructive temperature testing of meals inpouches reducing our food waste.
Plastic in our packaging by:• Fully transitioning to thinner film for the baseof our pouches, reducing the plastic in our pouches by 12%.
• Reducing the number of ice pack pillows used for insulation from4 to 1, allowing the same insulation but reducing plastic by 10%.
• Reducing headspace in the packaging for our extras and treats.

We will be increasing:• The amount of waste we recycle by continued analysis of generalwaste items and extending waste management partnerships.
• The volume of our lower carbon meals in Europe.
• Our recycled water through using a filtration system for our effluent.

We will also be:• Continuing to perform trials on alternative recyclable material
for our pouches that can withstand our unique cooking andfreezing process.
• Moving into BREEAM certified London offices.
41

Governance• Onboard 80% of existing suppliers on to Sedex supply
chain platform and develop new governance andonboarding model for new suppliers.

Community• Continuing to expand charity partners in all locations andbegin a strategic partnership with a global charity toextend our giving back further than our local communities.
• Improve our charity donations mechanic to align more
directly with our growth.
• Transition to more local supply chains for some of our treats.

Squad• Launch a new & improved feedback cycle that prioritises
individual growth & development.
• Embed our new Career Steps framework into every part ofthe employee journey.
• Welcome our new squad members in Germany and our new
Fresh cat food brand Marro, ensuring their onboarding isdelightful and creating a sense of belonging to the wider
Butternut squad.
• Continuously improve our compensation and benefits
offering to our squad regardless of location.

Customers• Develop a dedicated sustainability page on our main site.
• Support customers and pet professionals to makeinformed decisions about diets, by creating a Vet Handbook
for veterinary professionals, offering clinical nutrition
solutions with our diets.
• Improve our Research Hub web page to provide access toour research findings and papers, and begin to publish ourwork into science journals.
• Expand our health and wellness offerings within our Extras
range to support our Fresh meals and cater to the specificnutritional needs of dogs with health concerns.

42Because you,the planet, anddogs deserve better.
Follow our progress and p-updates on our social platforms.

@ButternutBox