Philip Wilson

Monaghan Mushrooms

Topic:

Sustainability at Monaghan Mushrooms.

Submission:

Monaghan Mushrooms is one of the largest mushroom and substrate producers in the world.

The mushroom industry is already a great example of the bio-economy in action: Monaghan combines end of cycle materials including straw, horse & poultry manure, and naturally recycles these to create a nutrient rich food source.

Sustainability is fundamental to Monaghan who have established a dedicated subsidiary MBio to unlock the mushrooms unique nutrients for application to new markets but also to support some of the sustainability targets set by the group.

Monaghan is a member of Origin Green and has set seven priority areas to drive sustainability through the group:

Solution:

  1. Energy Usage
  • Monaghan have sourced 100% green (renewable) electricity for all our Irish sites since 2012. That is ~25 GWh annually, which is enough electricity to power 5,000 homes for a year.
  • We have Climate Change Agreements on all our UK farms and have achieved a 26% reduction in energy usage (target was 12%).
  • Targets have been set for further reductions in energy usage.
  1. Water Usage

Monaghan have implemented two primary water conservation measures:

  • Water harvesting – all process and runoff water generated on our mushroom substrate production sites is captured and recycled back into the beginning of the process. We have rainwater harvesting facilities in place at some of our growing farms.
  • Automatic watering systems – all our farms operate using automatic, computer controlled water application systems. This allows for strict management of water use, ensuring optimum levels are applied, whilst the nozzle placement minimises wastage.
  1. Packaging Reduction

Through engagement with retail customers Monaghan have three main areas of focus in the area of packaging:

  • The launch of non plastic punnets on a range of products in UK, Ireland & Germany
  • Reducing the amount of plastic used in our current punnets
  • Removing PVC film from many of our products
  1. Biodiversity

Biodiversity surveys and management plans are in place across our farms, where we have implemented many initiatives, such as;

·       Flowers, plants and hedging

·       Bird boxes

·       Hedgehog houses

·       Butterfly baths

·       Log piles

·       Insect hotels

 

  1. Odour Abatement
  • Monaghan have consolidated our composting operations in Ireland to a single modern enclosed site which has implemented state of the art odour abatement systems.
  • Further investment has been made at our two UK compost facilities to move production indoors which integrates odour abatement systems.
  1. Reducing waste in the Mushroom production process
  • Spent mushroom substrate and mushroom stalks, are returned back to the soil as a soil conditioner and enhancer, for the growth of new crops within the arable farming industry.
  • We make regular donations to FoodCloud and Fareshare to reduce food waste
  1. Community Engagement

Monaghan Mushrooms take community engagement very seriously and we understand the importance of our interaction within our local communities.  We do this through:

·       Fundraising & donations

·       Sponsorship

·       Food Charities

·       Partnership with Monaghan Institute creating and providing opportunities for people

·       Employee wellbeing

About Philip Wilson:

Philip joined Monaghan Mushrooms in February 2001.  Philip’s current role is Group Operations Director and during his time in Monaghan has managed the Substrate manufacturing and Growing Divisions.

About Monaghan Mushrooms:

Over 35 years, Monaghan Mushrooms has established itself as the leading integrated mushroom producer in Europe and is a supplier of fresh mushrooms and mushroom substrate.  Monaghan has a significant customer base, supplying  all major retail groups in the UK market with a foothold in the Irish, Canadian and German markets.

Monaghan established a dedicated subsidiary MBio to unlock the mushroom nutrients for application to new markets and to support some of the sustainability targets set by the Group.

 

 

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