Sustainability Matters

Across its operation, Chapman’s works hard to minimize its environmental impact

For Chapman’s, producing great-tasting ice cream for Canadians shouldn’t come at the expense of the planet. The company continuously works to minimize its environment impact – and not just because sustainability is a buzzword these days.

“Sustainability was always a focus at Chapman’s. It’s just the way my mom and dad [founders David and Penny] have always done things because it was the right thing to do,” says COO Ashley Chapman.

In 2000, Chapman’s built its own high-tech wastewater treatment plan, becoming the first dairy operation in Ontario to do so. The facility purifies the 650,000 litres of water used daily during the production process. Chapman’s later added a reverse-osmosis system and now purifies and reuses its water in rooftop condensers.

Chapman’s is also committed to energy conservation and in 2014 became an active participant in Ontario’s Industrial Conservation Initiative, which was designed to shift large electricity users’ consumption to offpeak hours. To date, Chapman’s has reduced its peak demand by 40%. In addition, Chapman’s captures thermal heat from its engine rooms and uses it to heat water and reduce condensation, and is actively exploring other ways to further reduce its energy consumption.

On the packaging front, Chapman’s new paper-based packaging is Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certified. That means the pulp used to produce Chapman’s ice cream tubs is sustainably sourced, with careful consideration given to preserving biodiversity, maintaining wildlife habitat, and protecting water quality. In addition, its new containers are made from 60% renewable resources, require 50% less energy to manufacture than traditional plastic containers, and are 30% lighter than plastic containers. Even the wooden sticks on Chapman’s ice cream bars come from sustainable forest sources.

“Sustainability is truly engrained into everything at Chapman’s,” says Ashley. “As we go forward, whether that’s looking for more power savings or other alternative packaging sources, we’re never going to stop. If something comes along that is viable for our business, we’re going to do it.”

Penny adds that implementing sustainability measures is never an issue of “should we or shouldn’t we?” It’s an automatic yes when it makes sense for the business.

“We have choices; that’s how lucky we are,” says Penny. “We own the company and we can think about what’s right for us, the community, the country, and the planet. It’s not easy to do because usually if you make the right choice, it costs more money. But we have to live what we believe and we believe in doing the right thing.”