Britvic partners with The Rivers Trust to protect waterways

Britvic has joined The Rivers Trust’s Water Stewardship Programme.

Membership of the programme will see Britvic working with its local rivers trusts to take practical action and improve the quality of waterways near its production sites, including:

• Britvic’s Leeds factory and The Aire Rivers Trust – working together to improve biodiversity near the site
• Britvic’s Rugby factory and Severn Rivers Trust – working together on a range of conservation projects including tree planting and wetland and meadow creation
• Britvic’s Beckton factory in London – working with rivers trust Thames 21 to help restore 1.2km of the River Roding near Wanstead Park

Employees from all three sites will also be involved in volunteering activities including habitat restoration.

With only 14 per cent of water bodies in England in good ecological condition and populations of freshwater species having declined by 81 per cent since 1970, this work is essential.

“Water is essential to life and livelihoods and, as a soft drinks manufacturer, it’s our primary ingredient,” said Sarah Webster, Sustainable Business Director at Britvic. “We know that in the coming decades, water shortages will become a growing threat and it’s one we need to take as seriously as the climate crisis and the war on waste.”

Christine Colvin, Director of Partnerships and Communications at The Rivers Trust, said: “With this partnership, Britvic are taking a critical step towards stewardship, and looking after their local water environments, beyond the factory fence, in collaboration with The Rivers Trust.”

Britvic is committed to cutting its water ratio – the water consumption relative to production – 20 per cent by 2025. As part of this, its engineering team is taking steps to improve the company’s water efficiency in all its factories and these have been assessed using WWF’s Water Risk Filter tool. This work includes optimisation of the line cleaning processes and water reuse.