Aydn Loffman went from waste administration to environmental agenda champion

I joined the business as a Waste Administrator and was promoted to my first management role as Waste Manager, which I held for three years before becoming Waste Compliance Manager. In 2018, I was moved up to a new group governance role as Group Environmental Improvement Manager, which is my current position.

I studied fine art in higher education before embarking on an environment and sustainability path. I attended many training courses, learning key skills and vocations on the job. This significantly helped me progress in my career.

To drive the environmental agenda throughout the business; develop environmental policy, strategy and standards. I’m responsible for ensuring environmental compliance, improving the management of risks and reporting on environmental performance. I lead the group environmental governance audit programme to establish our level of compliance and performance, and manage environmental training throughout the company to advocate for improvement and cultural change within the business.

My average day/week can vary significantly due to my involvement in many different projects and responsibilities across multiple group functions, therefore, no two days/weeks are the same. My role is primarily home-based but does include travelling to our manufacturing sites, head offices and external networking events. I work very closely with our sites in a supporting and governance role. Building and maintaining relationships is a core part of my role, internally and externally. Conducting audits, generating governance reports, leading project meetings, chairing group forums, and delivering training are all key regular aspects of my role.

Perception of risk is a challenge. It’s my responsibility to ensure all stakeholders have a clear understanding of risk and liability. Dealing with a wide range of individuals can mean a range of opinions and beliefs. Whilst respecting others, I must ensure I am factual in my approach, which sometimes can be particularly difficult where there are various levels of subjectivity to consider. It’s about learning and knowing how to approach certain situations, groups or individuals in the correct manner.

I can see career opportunities in the food manufacturing industry increasing to reflect growing expectations and the implementation of newly required, legally binding targets.

I have seen a major positive shift in attitude towards sustainability over my relatively short career in the industry. Each passing year, the environmental sustainability agenda is moving to the forefront of our business and industry. Key stakeholders are becoming more invested in environmental and sustainability performance and practices. Career opportunities in this field within our business and externally are more available and I can only see this growing, which is critical to achieving global and national targets.

I feel a great sense of fulfillment in helping to contribute, however small, to causes that I am passionate about and that help to create a better future for ourselves, future generations, and nature. Equally, I feel proud to work in the food manufacturing industry and play a key part in helping to ensure people have food to eat in challenging times, such as during the pandemic. 

New challenges regularly arise in our industry. Decarbonisation is a massive challenge facing most industries. Movement to automation is becoming more of a solution for production and provides many benefits. However, in turn it also brings many environmental challenges such as energy use and carbon generation. Additionally, new upcoming legislative changes such as permitting regulations and best available technique reviews will also require adaptation.

Our company has a strategy to address the challenge of decarbonisation and to adapt to new regulations. We continue to educate and upskill our workforce to help us achieve our targets and maintain our levels of compliance and above.   

As the global sustainability agenda increases, more opportunities will present themselves. Nothing is more powerful than communication. Develop and maintain a healthy network and surround yourself with people who empower you. Also, remember sometimes the journey is much more valuable than the destination.