Sustainability - Articles and news items

Sustainability Supplement (free to view)

Issue 3 2011, Supplements / 7 July 2011 / Alessandro Cagli, Corporate Social Responsibility Director, Ferrero and Jean-Christophe Bligny, Environmental Director, Danone Waters

Featuring articles: “The consumer is king” – an interview with Alessandro Cagli, Corporate Social Responsibility Director, Ferrero and “Sustainable water use in the food and beverage industry” by Jean-Christophe Bligny, Environmental Director, Danone Waters. (more…)

Ferrero’s plant in Villers Ecalles granted ISO 22000 certification

Industry news, News / 12 May 2011 / Ferrero

In line with the Social Corporate Responsibility targets, Ferrero’s French plant in Villers Ecalles has been granted the ISO 22000 certification, issued by the international Bureau Veritas certification agency. (more…)

Campbell reports progress on 2020 sustainability and citizenship goals

Industry news, News / 12 May 2011 / Campbell Soup Company

Campbell Soup Company has reported its progress on its sustainability and corporate citizenship goals, including efforts to improve the health of young people and reduce the environmental footprint of its products. The complete update of its corporate social responsibility report is available at www.campbellsoupcompany.com/csr. (more…)

Cocoa sustainability at Mars

Issue 6 2010 / 15 December 2010 / Peter van Grinsven, Cocoa Sustainability Field Research Manager, Mars Nederland B.V.

At Mars, the sustainability of the cocoa industry is part of the strategy and business practices, with the focus on the viability of smallholder cocoa production systems and the needs of cocoa communities. This fits the company’s principle of mutuality, but there is also a realisation that the future of the whole cocoa industry is under threat and that the growing needs of the industry cannot be met in the future, at the expense of both the farmer and the industry. Many issues threaten the sustainability and the livelihoods of the eight million small holder cocoa farmers worldwide that can only be addressed through large programs in which industry collaborates with governments of producing and consuming countries and with national and international institutes, as well as with NGO’s and the cocoa farmers. (more…)

Novel processing and sustainable food production – a perfect match or not?

Issue 5 2010 / 4 November 2010 / Ulf Sonesson, Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology (SIK)

Food is indispensible to humans. Aside from the provision of energy and nutrients, it contributes to a range of important aspects of human life such as pleasure, cultural identity and heritage. At the same time, food accounts for a significant global share of total environmental impact and resource use. It is difficult to accurately quantify this impact, but estimates show that food chains globally account for 25 – 30 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions and energy use, and food production occupies most of the available arable land. Agriculture is also the single largest user of water and has a tremendous impact on biodiversity. (more…)

Unilever leads Dow Jones Sustainability Index

Industry news / 14 September 2010 / Unilever

Unilever has been named sustainability leader in the Food & Beverage ‘super-sector’ of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for the twelfth consecutive year. (more…)

Creating Shared Value in food manufacturing: Nestlé’s experience

Issue 3 2010, Past issues / 30 June 2010 / José Lopez, Executive Vice President, Nestlé S.A for Operations & Global Business Excellence

As the world’s leading Nutrition, Health and Wellness company (CHF 110 billion sales in 2008), Nestlé recognises that for its business to be successful and sustainable in the long term, it must create value for its shareholders and for society. With this, we need to move beyond more ‘generic’ principles of Corporate Social Responsibility and incorporate the convergence of competitiveness and sustainability into our business models. (more…)

A new vision

Issue 3 2010, Past issues / 30 June 2010 / David Pendlington, Sustainability Agriculture Programme Coordinator, Unilever

In November 2009, Unilever launched a bold new company vision to inspire people to take small, everyday actions that can add up to make a big difference for the world. Our aim is to double the size of its business while reducing its overall environmental impact. This new vision recognises the world is changing. Populations are growing. By 2050, nearly three billion more people will occupy the planet and by only 2030, world food production will have to increase by 50 per cent to meet the growing need for food. Rising incomes around the world continue to fuel demand for consumer products, products that rely on an increasingly constrained set of natural resources, whether its fuel or other raw materials. At the same time, climate change is not just a problem for the environment, it represents a huge threat to economic and social stability. (more…)

Five measures for sustainable, financially sound processing

Issue 4 2009 / 1 June 2010 / Dr Peter de Jong, Arjan van Asselt, Dr Martijn Fox & Dr Coen Akkerman, NIZO Food Research

In the food industry, it is possible to use new breakthrough technologies to create a more sustainable production process combined with a substantial decrease of production costs. However, the development of these technologies requires a significant investment of time and money. The latter, in particular, is difficult to secure these days. Fortunately, there are some relatively simple measures available to decrease production costs by five to 10 per cent within a single year. Five are presented in this article. In order to obtain a maximised effect it is important to apply all five to achieve optimal production efficiency.

NIZO food research has years of experience in the optimisation of processes both within and beyond the food industry. This pertains not so much to the optimisation of logistics and the use of equipment but rather to the production method used to produce the food. Experience showed that in almost any case, opportunities for substantial improvements that lead to quick wins with regard to costs and sustainability are available. For a production line, the savings can amount to hundreds of thousands of Euros per year. Figure 1 provides an overview of the possible ways in which quick wins can be achieved. These have been applied with success dozens of times during recent years. An explanation of each is provided below. (more…)

Sustainability and PepsiCo UK: meeting the challenge together

Issue 4 2009 / 12 December 2009 / Emma Clarke, Sustainability Manager, PepsiCo UK

PepsiCo UK & Ireland (PIUK) employs over 5,500 people across 13 locations, including the largest crisp manufacturing plant in the world located in Leicester, the Quaker Oats factory at Cupar in Scotland, Copella apple juice bottled at Boxford in Suffolk and a number of other manufacturing, distribution and administration sites. Our core brands are Walkers, Quaker, Tropicana and Pepsi – but our business also includes a wide range of other products, including Planet Lunch, Snack a Jacks and SunBites.

In this article, I am going to talk about the environmental challenges facing PepsiCo and how we are changing the way we work to grow sustainably whilst reducing our impact on the planet, within and outside our four walls. I will share our total supply chain approach to tackling these challenges, which focuses on three key areas: addressing climate change, resource depletion and water shortages – issues where we believe we have the greatest ability to act and influence. Finally, I will demonstrate a supply chain approach in action, with the example of Walkers Crisps. (more…)

Sustainability in process technology

Issue 2 2009 / 1 June 2009 / Jasper Peters, Mars Nederland BV

The process technology landscape in the chocolate industry has changed markedly over the last decade. Following the key business trends, research and development in most organisations has incorporated all the key ‘buzzwords’, with focus given to terms such as efficiency, speed, low cost, flexibility, trade secrets, patentability, open innovation and so on. The sharp minded amongst the readers will have noticed that some of the keywords are, in fact, exact opposites. Efficiency and flexibility seem impossible to combine and secrecy seems to be the antithesis of open innovation.

Although the new winds started blowing in the process technology area in the late 1990′s, sustainability has always been key. The term sustainability is probably best known by consumers as the environmental and human impact of a business, although within the commercial world it means this as well as business longevity and should be key to a successful business. However, what if ethics and mutuality are already integrated in the development process? In the particular case study in this article, it is meant to put some gravity on a combination of all the earlier mentioned points but also the way of working and approach to achieve durable processes with regards to environment, speed, cost and ethics. How can we make a line or a machine that can make all kinds of products, at a wide range of speeds, with a low running cost and with minimal impact towards the environment and the planet? (more…)

Steel: an enabler for sustainability

Issue 4 2008 / 3 December 2008 / The Association of European Producers of Steel for Packaging

Sustainability has risen swiftly up the world agenda in recent years. Consumers, governments and the industry recognise that we must look to reduce our global footprint in every area of our lives. As the world demands solutions for a sustainable future, the sustainability performance of steel for packaging can provide an answer.

Steel’s natural properties – magnetic, infinitely recyclable, 100 per cent protective and naturally strong – make it a unique enabler for sustainability. It offers brand owners, retailers and consumers a strong performance product they can trust, while also enabling them to demonstrate their active role in building a sustainable society. (more…)

Sustainable agriculture at Unilever

Issue 4 2008 / 3 December 2008 / David Pendlington, Sustainable Agriculture Programme Coordinator, Unilever

Sustainability has become increasingly important to Unilever, especially our food business – which includes brands such as Knorr, Lipton and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. It is a core element in our Vitality Framework, which sets out how the company plans to achieve our mission of adding vitality to life by increasing social value and improving environmental impacts.

Brand teams also consider sustainability as part of their product strategies because consumers increasingly want to know where our ingredients have come from, how they were grown, and the impacts they have on both the environment and local communities. Consumers have become more aware of climate change, water scarcity and other threats. They want sustainability as well as quality, flavour and the other attributes we always aim to provide. They care about the conditions for workers in the fields and animal welfare as well as environmental impacts.

Supermarket groups such as Wal-Mart and Tesco have responded to these concerns and are increasingly looking for suppliers who can demonstrate progress on sustainability. “This is a competitive issue. We have to make sure our brands perform well on sustainability,” says Jan-Kees Vis, Director of Sustainable Agriculture. (more…)