About Us
Our Approach
From our humble beginnings, we have grown to become one of the largest businesses in the UK animal by-products sector. We've achieved this thanks to constant innovation and investment plus a relentless focus on building relationships with customer and partner businesses.
Innovation, investment and customer focus.
We actively look for new and better ways to work, and invest continuously in new ideas and processes. We plan everything we do around the twin goals of making our operations as clean and green as possible and delivering products and services that meet customer needs.
Our Story...
We started as a family business, and we're still a family business. But today, our family now includes a group of companies, customers and suppliers worldwide, and a large workforce across our various sites.
The story starts in 1972, with the Pears family developing a livestock farming business in and around Penistone, South Yorkshire.
As time went on, the family farming business diversified into animal by-product and food waste collection services. More recently we added two by-product processing facilities to the Group's activity portfolio. This ensures complete control of our end to end collection and processing services.
The original family farm in Penistone is still very much part of the business, continuing our farming heritage and housing the Group's head office.
We’ve grown the Group both organically and through acquisition, continuously investing in each of our plants, making our business sustainable, and earning a reputation as a trusted supplier and business partner.
We are now major employers in the areas where our main sites are based. We operate some of the most up-to-date processing plants in the UK, and across the Group we collect, transport and process over 10,000 tonnes of animal material a week.
Our products are safe, natural, and sustainable. As established suppliers to the pet food, animal feed and aquaculture sectors, we help manufacturers improve taste, nutrition, and feed efficiency.
Our Group operates within a carbon neutral footprint.
Renewable energy: Combined Heat & Power Plant
Our most recent development is the construction and operation of our combined heat and power plant (CHP).
The CHP plant generates renewable energy by providing steam and electricity to our existing businesses as well as exporting its excess electrical power to the National Grid.
This biomass-fired CHP plant will use meat and bone meal (MBM) to replace over 90% of the fossil fuels used in the current business processes. MBM is a sustainable alternative with a calorific value of the same magnitude as coal, meaning that more than 150,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide will be saved per year. MBM can also be sourced more locally than the fuels currently used, which in turn reduces carbon emissions from transport and transport kilometres.
The schematic gives a summary process flow of CHP inputs - process - outputs.
Renewable energy: Windfarm
Within our farmland, we own and operate a c.7 MW windfarm that generates electricity which is exported to the National Grid.
JG Pears Farming
Our family has been farming around the Penistone area for many generations - we live within, understand and contribute to the agricultural sector.
Across our land, we have an extensive operation farming both sheep and suckler cows.
Why animal rendering matters
Rendering is one of the oldest, traditional industries in the world, historically generating candles and soaps. Today, the UK produces over 1.75 million tonnes of animal by-products, all of which needs to be treated in a safe and responsible fashion.
Given the scale of the animal agriculture sector, rendering is essential to protect public health, the environment and animal health. The circular nature of the industry means rendering contributes to the sustainability of the animal agriculture sector through highly regulated processes.
Fully Certified and Approved
At JGP we are fully certified and approved by the following organisations:
- DEFRA
- The Environment Agency
- Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency
- The Animal and Plant Health Agency
- The International Sustainability and Carbon Certification scheme
- GMP+ (Good Manufacturing Processes)
- Ecostars (the greener fleet scheme)
- The Combined Heat and Power Quality Assurance Programme
- The Renewables Obligation scheme
We are also members of the European Fat Processors and Renderers Association (EFPRA).
Please ask if you would like to see our certificates.
We're also happy to provide copies of our environmental, animal health and modern slavery policies.