We’re environmentally conscious
At Edelweiss, we have been working to significantly reduce our energy consumption since 1996. We now use 47% less electricity and 54% less natural gas for every tonne of finished product manufactured. Per tonne of finished product, we have also reduced our use of cleaning agents by 76% and of water by 68%. We recycle around 85% of all waste material involved in making our products. And we have been running on 100% hydroelectricity since 2010, saving about 7,550 tonnes of CO2 every year. On top of that, our pool vehicle has an environmentally friendly electric drive.
We’re also careful to save resources when collecting our milk. For example, we make sure that our tanker trucks take shorter routes and are filled to optimum capacity. On average, our suppliers’ dairy farms are just 40 km from our production facility. When delivering our products to retailers, we cooperate with other dairies to consolidate the flow of goods. That way, we save energy as well as producing less noise and fewer particulates.
Environmental management at Edelweiss has been certified in accordance with ISO 14001 and validated in accordance with EMAS III since 2002.
GMO-free milk
Our dairy farmers have completely avoided the use of genetically modified food since 2012. Regular audits are carried out to make sure that they continue to do so. That means the milk we use to make our products is 100% GMO-free.
Grass-fed cows
Our cows are fed primarily on fresh meadow pasture, hay and grass silage. Because our cows are grass-fed, they are healthy and produce milk of an outstanding quality.
On top of that, grassland farming promotes the diversity of meadow plants and helps to conserve the traditional Allgäu landscape in the foothills of the Alps. It also absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere and avoids the need to import soy and corn from overseas, which are often grown on land obtained through deforestation.
Animal welfare
The quality of milk depends on the welfare of the cows that produce it. Our farms, all family-run businesses from the Allgäu region in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, make sure that their cows are happy and healthy. The well-being of the herds is important to us and we keep a careful eye on their quality of life.
We regularly survey our farmers on topics such as loose housing, tie stalls, access to pasture, feeding and other issues. We carefully evaluate this information in order to monitor developments.
It is important to us to cooperate with our farmers fairly and on an equal footing. For this reason, we support them by providing workshops that offer expert advice on current issues.
Our farmers have voluntarily committed to being audited by an independent organisation (QM-Milch).
170
milk suppliers
An average of
50 dairy cows
per farmer
Each farm produces an average of
390.000 kg milk
annually
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