Soft drinks company Radnor Hills is in running for prestigious sustainability honour

The Knighton-based company, which produces a range of still, sparkling and deliciously flavoured drinks all made with exceptionally pure spring water sourced from its boreholes, puts environmental sustainability at the heart of the company.

Six companies have been shortlisted for the Sustainable Values Award and the winner will be announced on May 9 at a ceremony at Brangwyn Hall, Swansea.

All of Radnor’s products are fully recyclable: their plastic bottles and shrink wraps are 100 per cent recyclable and are also made up of 30 per cent recycled materials, and their cartons are straw free.

Radnor’s aluminium cans have the highest recycling rate of them all. Each can is infinitely recyclable and sourced only 65 miles from the company’s farm in the heart of the Welsh countryside.

Radnor has sent zero waste to landfill since 2018, has an on-site state-of-the-art recycling facility and an expert in-house team to facilitate this. Any waste they can’t recycle is put into a compactor and sent for RDF (Refused Derived Fuel).

Operating on a zero-to-landfill basis also means the company can support a circular economy, sending any waste back to the source to be reused and recycled.

Radnor’s company management system has been certified to ISO 14001 standard, showing customers and suppliers that the company takes its impact on the environment seriously and is committed to keeping it at the forefront of the business. It has also planted more than 14,000 trees.

At the end of 2023, and adding to existing rooftop panels, Radnor opened a brand new £1.8 million solar farm, which produces 2,000 kWh of power a year, meaning 21 per cent of the factory is now powered by the sun. It is also helping to mitigate rising energy costs.

William Watkins, managing director of Radnor Hills, which was founded in 1990 and produces over 400 million drinks a year, said: “We’re very pleased to have been shortlisted for this award.

“We’re passionate about working sustainably to protect and enhance our environment and the planet and are continuously working to become more sustainable, to recycle everything we can and to protect the local environment.

“Our production site just outside Knighton is the only site in Europe with lines managing glass, PET, cans and Tetra Pak. This multi-format facility means we can significantly reduce onward transport costs and energy use, offering a true basket of products for our wholesalers and retailers, all from one collection point – our zero to landfill site in Powys.

“To enhance our offering further we procure our empty base cans from Ardagh in Wrexham. Along with our PET preforms, which are blown onsite, the glass for our Radnor brands travels down from our supplier in Chester, vastly improving our upstream impact on the environment.”