SUSTAINABILITY

At Oppo Brothers, our mission is to encourage everyone to treat themselves well, any day.

A core part of this is our commitment to behaving in a sustainable way. As a small, family-run ice cream business, we do make a conscious effort to minimise our impact on the environment and empower the people involved in our business.

We are a B Corp-certified company which means we're officially a business that's a force for good.

As you might know, B Corp involves assessing a company’s performance against five key categories: governance, workers, customers, community, and the environment. This certification means we're meeting the highest standards of social and environmental performance, and has given us all increased momentum to continue what we are doing. To read more about B Corp specifically, see our blog here. Whilst we aren't perfect, we have identified five key focus areas where we can have the greatest impact:

  • REDUCE OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT & CARBON EMISSIONS

  • COMMIT TO SUSTAINABLY-SOURCED, RECYCLABLE PACKAGING 

  • SUPPORT RESPONSIBLE MILK PRODUCTION AND RESPECT THE WELFARE OF ANIMALS & PEOPLE

  • REDUCE OUR WATER & ENERGY CONSUMPTION 

  • MINIMISE FOOD WASTE


SUPPLY CHAIN

We know our supply chain has an integral role to play in the sustainability of Oppo Brothers. In line with our five key focus areas, we are working to continually improve our footprint and how we bring Oppo Brothers ice cream to the shelves.

WE ARE COMMITTED TO SUSTAINABLY-SOURCED, RECYCLABLE PACKAGING.

  • Our tubs, lids and stick/snacking boxes are certified by and subject to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC).
  • Our packaging is made in plants that operate efficiently, achieving ambitious energy, waste, emission and water targets thanks to state-of-the-art technology and processes.
  • All our paper-based packaging is recyclable and supports the circular economy EU recyclability targets.
  • Since 2020, our packaging has been 100% foil-free.

WE SUPPORT RESPONSIBLE MILK PRODUCTION. 

  • Our milk supplier's sustainability strategy includes climate protection, animal welfare and biodiversity. Their milk farmers are rewarded through the Milkmaster program for responsible milk production. This is well received: EcoVadis, the internationally recognized platform for the sustainability assessment of global supply chains, has already awarded it with its gold seal of approval several times.
  • We are also actively growing our non-dairy business to provide plant-based alternatives with a lower carbon impact.

WE RESPECT THE WELFARE OF OUR PEOPLE.  

  • At our head office, a flexible working culture means putting our team’s wellbeing at its heart so that we’re all happy, healthy and ready to make the world’s best ice cream.

WE AIM TO CONTINUALLY REDUCE OUR WATER & ENERGY CONSUMPTION.

  • Our lower sugar ice cream is not just better for you but it also is less impactful on the environment than regular ice cream, as sugar production is highly water intensive.
  • Our dairy farms have significantly reduced water consumption vs other dairy operations, and are exploring ground-breaking trials to develop drinking water from the milk production process.
  • Energy efficient production sites meet the highest standards and energy consumption been reduced by 17% over the last ten years thanks to investment in more energy-efficient machinery and working practices.
  • Our Head Office is one of the top buildings for energy efficiency in London. Located in The Food Exchange, it is an exciting new low energy building for food entrepreneurs.  

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, WE MINIMISE FOOD WASTE.

  • We never throw perfectly good ice cream away when it can’t be sold in the shops any more - we always give ice cream away that’s still within its shelf life to brighten someone's day.
  • From homeless charities to food banks to the elderly, we like to spread the feel good whenever we can. Please get in touch if you work for a charity that would be interested in receiving donations (and has the freezer space to accommodate!).

We like to think that our approach to sustainability benefits not only our customers but also our team and the broader world in many different ways.  Combining all of this, we achieved B-Corp Certification in 2022. This means that we meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. 
If there’s something else you think we should consider or would like to find out more about please let us know at team@oppobrothers.co.uk.