Skip to main content
Hit enter to search or ESC to close

Narrow down your searches to:

  • All
  • Food is Living
  • Industry
  • Farmers & Growers

Dawn Meats Group - Case Study 2025

Dawn Meats, established in Co. Waterford in 1980, is a family-owned food company supplying premium meat products to global markets. With deep farming roots and partnerships with over 16,000 Irish farmers, the company champions sustainability, quality, and innovation across its ten Irish processing sites and beyond.

Dawn meats group banner image
Gold Member
Dawn Meats

Sustainability Achievements

In 2024, Dawn Meats increased mono plastic MAP tray usage to 92% and padded tray lines to 91%, surpassing packaging milestone targets by 22% and 8%, respectively.

  • Targets Reported:
  • Exemplary Targets:
  • Awarded Gold Membership:

In 2024, Dawn Meats advanced its sustainable packaging strategy, increasing the percentage of MAP trays using mono plastic with glue from 88% in 2023 to 92%, surpassing its milestone target by 22%. While some tray formats remain unchanged due to complex designs, Dawn Meats continues to collaborate with suppliers and internal teams to explore further opportunities for conversion. The company remains focused on increasing the overall percentage of trays using the mono with glue solution, despite technical limitations in certain formats.

Further progress was made in reducing non-recyclable components, with the percentage of product lines in padded MAP trays rising from 79% in 2023 to 91%, exceeding the milestone of 83%. This shift enabled the removal of an estimated 1.9 tonnes of absorbent pads from the supply chain, allowing previously unrecyclable trays to be recycled.

Dawn Meats also maintained its high standard in sustainable sourcing, with 98% of cardboard packaging FSC-certified in 2024, well above the milestone of 85%. This achievement was sustained alongside the acquisition of Kildare Chilling in April 2024, which introduced new suppliers into the group. The company is actively working with these suppliers to support their transition to FSC certification.

The average recycled content of rigid plastic trays was maintained at 80%, meeting the company's milestone target. Dawn Meats continues to monitor the availability of high-quality recycled material, recognising the challenges posed by increased demand. 

Case Studies

Explore Origin Green Members

  • Gold Member

    Kish Fish Co. Ltd - Gold Member

    Kish Fish, founded in 1966 in Dublin’s historic fish market, is a family-owned seafood business. Renowned for quality, innovation, and sustainability, it supplies fresh, smoked, and prepared seafood to retail and foodservice customers across Ireland.

    View Story
  • Gold Member

    Lee Strand - Gold Member

    Lee Strand is a long-established dairy co-operative based in Tralee, Co. Kerry. Known for its fresh milk and dairy products, the company combines over a century of tradition with a strong focus on innovation, sustainability, and community engagement across the southwest of Ireland.

    View Story
  • Gold Member

    Kinnegar Brewing - Gold Member

    Kinnegar Brewing, founded in 2013 in Rathmullen, Co. Donegal, moved to larger facilities in Letterkenny in 2017 due to rapid success. They produce high-quality beer using traditional methods, develop new unfiltered beers, offer taproom tastings, and export their award-winning products domestically and to Europe.

    View Story