Sustainability

At MayHawk, we’re committed to using recycled and renewable materials in our packaging and to powering our manufacturing with clean, renewable electricity.

We use a mixture of solar, wind and biomass generated electricity at our production facility and we plan to increase production of our own renewable energy sources as the company grows.

One of our ongoing major initiatives is to ensure our company growth is part of a sustainable action plan – this means monitoring and minimising the overall waste that we generate within our company footprint.

We want to get to a place when we can eliminate all waste sent to landfill from our supply chain packaging and manufacturing processes.

Offsetting carbon emissions is something that many companies engaged in green policies participate in. However, at MayHawk we go further, we personally offset all of our own UK carbon emissions by annually growing and planting oak trees at our production site.

Yet we’re also aware that much of the supply chain materials we purchase also need to be offset by us, because we take responsibility for all of it. Through focused green initiatives, we’re dedicated to achieving net zero carbon emissions and making a lasting positive impact on the planet.

We’re also working towards a future where every MayHawk product will be created from and contribute to circular supply chains – while meeting our rigorous standards for quality and simplicity. And we understand that the design, ingredient and material choices we make across our product lines will support this goal.

Recycling

Our company ecosystem is part of a much larger one, and we are so fortunate to make products that rely heavily on many natural raw ingredients and materials that are renewable.

This means it is a clear choice within our company to make sure we are part of a circular recycling economy that cares for the environment.

Closing the loop. Closing the loop in manufacturing and material use can apply to both finite and renewable resources – and this is key to the future of protecting the planet.

For finite materials this involves sourcing materials that can re-enter the recycling market at the end of their product life — such as sourcing aluminium foil that already contains recycled aluminium, for which we encourage our customers to then (re)recycle after use.

For renewable materials our focus is on responsible sourcing and its continual regeneration, with paper and cardboard as key examples, where we promote its recycling and also reinvest in tree plantation schemes.

To help reverse global negative resource trends, we are committed to using and sourcing materials efficiently and responsibly and engaging in environmental stewardship programs.

Material Impact

The materials we chose to work creatively with define us as a company. The high standards we set for ourselves also includes making sure that these materials can be recycled and renewed.

Forests are invaluable resources that clean our air, purify our water, sequester atmospheric carbon, and provide shelter for wildlife.

They’re also essential to the ecosystems from which MayHawk sources several key raw materials. For example diverse forests worldwide supply the cacao beans for our chocolate, maple syrup for our sugar and the fibre-based card for our packaging.

So as a company we are intrinsically linked to the well-being of trees, making forest stewardship schemes a vital component in our consideration when choosing our supply chain partners and the materials we purchase. For example the maple syrup that we use comes from certified sustainable sources in Canada.

Aluminium is another material that we have chosen to work with. Switching to increased recycled and low-carbon production aluminium foil is a priority for us. Protecting our chocolate with a thin aluminium foil wrap means it is both incredibly protective and easily recyclable.

If the aluminium foil we source also comes in part from using previously recycled aluminium, it means that we are increasingly moving towards using a closed loop material without further depleting the Earth’s natural resources.

As part of MayHawk’s commitment to resource conservation, we continually assess the impact of the ingredients and materials used in our products and packaging.

Our focus is on reducing harmful practices wherever possible and employing approaches backed by clear evidence for sustainable progress. We aim to grow as a company and use this growing voice to act as a catalyst for industry-wide change.

We strive to positively influence our industry by advocating for policies that support circular material supply chains and making meaningful impacts on rural farming and plantation communities worldwide — hopefully inspiring other companies to follow suit.

Carbon Neutral

We’re committed to achieving carbon neutrality across our entire company footprint. To do this we have looked at measuring how and where our company is directly or indirectly responsible for greenhouse gas emissions – and we want to take responsibility for it all.

Using the Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 categories we have created action plans to reduce or offset our carbon footprint in all three areas.

Scope 1 this category covers emissions from sources that MayHawk owns or controls directly. For example the emissions that come from burning fossil fuels in our transport vehicles.

Scope 2 are emissions that come indirectly from our purchases of energy that powers our workflow. For example, the emissions caused when generating the electricity that we purchase to use in our buildings and manufacturing processes.

Scope 3 encompasses all other emissions that are not produced by our company and are not the result of activities from assets owned or controlled by us. An example of this is when we buy ingredients and materials from our supply chain partners.

To reach carbon neutrality, and using these measurements, we know that we have to be focused on decarbonising our four largest sources of emissions — the use of farmed ingredients, materials, electricity, and transport — through deliberate and sustainable choices.

How We Hold Ourselves Accountable

In terms of our supply chain, and particularly our use of farmed natural raw ingredients, we invest time and resources into sourcing the highest-quality ingredients with the lowest environmental impact, and participate in local and global carbon sequestration projects that offset their production.

We’ve introduced in-house composting, to reuse all clean biomass waste in our greenhouse, (where we grow some of the natural ingredients that we use in our products) and actively support local composting and recycling projects.

Recycling and Renewables. Since 2017 we have focused on significantly expanding our use of renewable materials across the company, especially in our packaging. Recycled and renewable materials most often have a lower carbon footprint than using primary raw materials.

Clean energy. Electricity use in our manufacturing is one of the largest sources of emissions across all MayHawk product lines. We know that achieving carbon neutrality for our entire footprint requires a full transition to 100% clean energy.

Currently, we meet over 55% of our electricity needs through our own solar panels and wind-farm technology, and the area has a large commercial biomass electrical plant that we draw the other 45% from – and we remain focused on implementing energy reduction measures across all our facilities.

Reduction of transportation impact. To reduce transport emissions, we are trying to shift to receiving more of our materials from our supply chain partners to less carbon-intensive shipping methods, such as ocean freight.

Transporting the same materials by ocean rather than by air generates 95% fewer emissions, significantly lowering the environmental impact of our supply chain.

Improve transport efficiency. We also collaborate with our local and global logistic transport partners to ensure that our domestic and wholesale orders are delivered using best practices.

Over the last three years we’ve also significantly reduced our overall packaging mass and volume (approx. 35%) and we have designed new outer delivery postal boxes that optimise internal space better suited to our products.

Carbon removal. Additionally, we support local and global carbon sequestration projects, such as tree plantation schemes, to offset our impact and to help us towards achieving our goal of net zero carbon emissions.

Progress Report

Environmental progress can and should be beneficial for business, particularly when a business like ours depends so much on natural renewable resources.

So we support our environmental strategy with robust business principles and a commitment to creativity and innovation.

Over the past 15 years we’ve reached significant milestones on our environmental journey, and, as a company, we remain dedicated to tackling the continuing generational challenge of environmental sustainability and ethical trading.

We are actively seeking to support global nature-based projects, particularly in the rainforest regions where we source cacao mass, that focus on carbon sequestration — such as planting forests and restoring mangroves — projects that improve climate adaptation and resilience of wildlife.

Additionally, we want to make sure that our company is actively involved in local re-afforestation, and so for the past ten years we have established an annual initiative to grow oak trees in our greenhouse nursery – these are trees grown from acorns collected in the autumn from our local native oak trees.

After five years of growth, we plant these oak saplings back in the surrounding hedgerows and fields near MayHawk Barn. As they age oak trees can absorb approximately 25 kg of CO2 annually from the atmosphere, storing it within their biomass structure.

Over the years, we have successfully planted more than one hundred oak saplings grown in our nursery and this ongoing commitment is something we are proud of.

In 2017, we launched an initiative to fully transition from using petroleum-based plastics to more recyclable fibre-based materials in our packaging, specifically focusing on recyclable paper and cardboard in our main product boxes. We have also made our labels more prominent on our packaging that encourage more recycling.

While this transition has been highly successful, allowing for greater innovation and design possibilities, it is an ongoing effort that now includes the continuous evaluation of all materials we use, including those used in the packaging of our outer postal boxes and larger shipping boxes.

Yet even here we’re closing in on our goal to remove all plastics from all of our packaging by transitioning to 100 per cent fibre-based packaging by 2027. Only the thin outer protective pouch, used for delivering orders purchased online, is still plastic.

Currently, of the materials contained in the main product packaging (predominantly aluminium and fibre-based card) that we deliver to stores and customers, over 54 per cent come from recycled or renewable sources, and 100 per cent of these materials can now be easily recycled. We know this is an area where we can still improve.

Since 2012, we’ve implemented systems and adopted approaches to avoid sending waste to landfill — and we’ve encouraged our supply chain manufacturers to do the same.

By working with local specialised recyclers and creating internal systems for composting biomass, we have successfully redirected a range of waste materials from ending up in landfills sites.

Currently there is little to no clean biomass waste from the natural ingredients that we use that we do not compost and recycle as fertiliser for growing some of our own ingredients.

And underpinning everything in this environmental plan are our efforts to make our manufacturing processes in all areas more efficient, which creates less waste and helps us to make the most of the materials that we do source.

At MayHawk we’re constantly investigating new materials to use and new ways to manufacture efficiently, always considering what to leave out and what to put in.