A UK-based dog bakery has moved closer towards being carbon neutral with the installation of a 30KW solar system, an electric car charger and planting trees at its factory unit in Shropshire.

Life Of Riley Bakery Ltd, a manufacturer of natural healthy pet treats, relocated and upscaled to new commercial units in March 2022, and since then has been striving to reduce its carbon footprint.

The move towards a greener future started in November when the company installed a large solar panel system spanning the entire roof of their units 

“This was a huge investment for us,” said Sarah Meredith, owner of Life Of Riley based in Market Drayton, Shropshire. “But we feel strongly about being as kind to planet as we can with our business operations. 

“As we scale the business up, we do not want it to be at the cost of the environment. We will always make business decisions with this factor at the forefront of our minds. It means we are more in control of our costs too, with the volatile energy prices effecting manufacturing businesses significantly.”

The company has also invested in a fast charge car charger onsite and an electric car which the team uses for all business travel.

Already offering plastic free and compostable packaging options to customers and stockists, Life Of Riley is in deep discussions with its packaging suppliers to remove single-use plastic completely from its range.

“Over 85% of our customer base are trade stockists, for which many of them take advantage of our loose biscuit options, meaning they can display our products in the most flexible and economical way possible. Customers are becoming more aware of plastic waste every day and we want to make sure we are not letting the side down,” added Sarah.

Life Of Riley is also planting its way to having a forest – in return for honest customer reviews the company plants a tree. “It’s great to see how our customers are excited by the fact they have a tree planted on their behalf. We hope to plant as many trees as we possibly can and soon we will be planting one for every order we receive.”