As a farmers co-operative, Highland Grain is very conscious of its environmental obligations and is continually seeking ways to advance its policy. The grain drying process produces substantial quantities of grain dust which, hitherto, had little use and was often dumped in landfill. As Highland Grain can produce up to 500m³ of grain dust annually, the problem was not insignificant. The Board and members of Highland Grain felt that this policy was unsustainable and, in 1999, decided to look at composting and worm farming as a means of disposing of the grain dust.

After a pilot project lasting a year, using 10,000 worms, Highland Grain bought a further 100,000 worms and constructed 6 purpose-built worm beds, as a means of developing the project. Initial results were very good and, after learning more about the husbandry and nutritional requirements of the worms, a further 10 beds were constructed in 2002. The worms clearly enjoyed their environment and the population from the original 6 beds has grown so much that they now occupy 15 of the 16 available beds. All grain dust produced on site is now being consumed on site as well, reducing the volume of dust by a factor of 8 and producing highly useable compost. As an environmental programme, this has been hugely successful and has had a major impact for the business and for the environment.

Other environmental measures have also been employed, particularly in the offices where all paper is shredded for composting and consumption by the worms, with much of the kitchen waste thrown in. Spider plants have been placed in each office to soak up any ozone, which can emanate from electrical equipment.

Highland Grain has an operating certificate under the Environmental Management system, ISO 14001, which is continually reviewed and updated to employ any worthwhile initiatives to help preserve our unique environment.