Pioneering vertical farm GrowUp has added another accolade to its trophy cabinet after scooping the Water Conservation Award at the prestigious National Sustainability Awards.
Now in its fourth year, the National Sustainability Awards recognise the pioneers of sustainability and champion the companies that are leading the way through innovation and breadth of impact across all sectors.
The judges were particularly impressed by GrowUp, a certified B Corp, partnering with water treatment experts Salinity Solutions to run a successful water-purification trial at its Kent vertical farm. The trial, which was the first one globally in the food sector, was able to purify 98% of the vertical farm’s wastewater streams to a standard better than tap water. Also, the new, disruptive technology used dramatically reduces the environmental footprint of water treatment, using half the energy of existing systems.
As part of the trial, Salinity Solutions used its ground-breaking HybatchTM reverse osmosis (RO) technology* – the first hybrid batch RO in the world to be manufactured commercially – which could now have a major impact on reducing wastewater, not only in the food sector but in many other sectors around the world. This could help to solve the emerging global water crisis.
Reflecting on the awards success, GrowUp CEO Marcus Whately said: “I’m delighted we’ve won the Water Conservation Award at the National Sustainability Awards, which are so highly regarded as cross-industry awards. I’m proud of everyone on the GrowUp team and their commitment to our purpose of growing better food in the right way.
“We’ve been lucky enough to win many awards for the quality of our salad, but awards like this shine a light on brands that have greener ways to do business.
“The GrowUp team is entirely focused on growing the tastiest variety of leaves that are low on impact and big on flavour, and our two salad brands – Unbeleafable and Fresh Leaf Co. – are now available to buy in four major UK supermarket groups, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Iceland and SPAR, so we really are getting incredible food, with minimum impact, onto the nation’s plates.
“Sustainability has been a driving force for GrowUp since the early days of the business, so we are truly honoured that our water conservation efforts and partnership with Salinity Solutions has been acknowledged.
This Water Conservation Award is the second award for the Salinity Solutions and GrowUp partnership, and GrowUp’s eighth accolade** in less than a year. Salinity and GrowUp won the Water Efficiency Project of the Year at the Water Industry Award earlier this year.
Salinity Solutions’ co-founder Liam Burlace added: “We’re very grateful to GrowUp for allowing us to demonstrate our technology in the food sector and delighted that the project has been recognised with an award. Our shared goal is to reduce the consumption of energy and water so the results of this trial could have a significant impact on how the food industry manages its resources. I’d like to take the opportunity to thank our manufacturing partner Te-Tech Process Solutions for their support in delivering this project.”
The award also recognised GrowUp’s dedicated work on creating a vertical farm that overall uses significantly less water to grow its salad leaves. The team at GrowUp have a strong focus on reducing waste and enhancing water efficiency and work with the Resource Innovation Institute to introduce whole-system efficiency measures, which means the farm tracks its total water and energy use per kilo of produce.
GrowUp became the first vertical farm in the UK to launch a branded, ready-to-eat bagged salad into a major supermarket group with the launch of Fresh Leaf Co. into Iceland stores in February 2023. Fresh Leaf Co. is also now stocked in SPAR stores too.
In the summer of 2023, GrowUp also launched Unbeleafable, a range of ready-to-eat bagged salad grown at its farm in Kent. The salad collection is available to buy at Tesco stores across the UK, and recently launched in Sainsbury’s.
The salad leaves are grown, and packed, in a controlled environment at GrowUp’s farm in Kent. The farm uses state-of-the-art technology to create the ideal environment for the leaves to thrive, ensuring they receive the optimal balance of water, light and nutrients. The leaves are also grown without the need for pesticides or chlorine washing, all processes that degrade the quality of the leaves.
*Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a process where water is purified by pumping it through a semi-permeable membrane. Conventional RO uses a lot of energy as the pumping energy is lost when the water passes through the membrane. Salinity Solutions’ HybatchTM technology more than halves the energy used through a patented combination of a pressure exchange vessel and advanced recirculation control, developed from theory to reality over 10 years of research at the Universities of Birmingham and Aston.
** GrowUp’s eight awards include: Fresh Produce Awards Climate Award (Sustainability Excellence) 2023; Great British Entrepreneur Awards Sustainability Entrepreneur of the Year 2023 and Equity-backed Entrepreneur of the Year 2023; edie Best SME of the Year 2024; UK Green Business Awards Small Business of the Year 2024 and Sustainability Leader of the Year 2024; Water Efficiency Project of the Year at the Water Industry Award; and National Sustainability Awards Water Conservation Award 2024.