Eight sustainable organisations you should know about
Sustainability is a box-ticking trend for many organisations, but for Volac Wilmar Feed Ingredients, it’s embedded into our company culture; our products; our policies; and our values. As a prominent element of our company ethos, it’s only right we share other organisations championing sustainability too.
Bio-bean
The world’s largest recycler of coffee grounds, Bio-bean, has been tackling coffee waste since 2013. In their own words, they “...work with the biggest companies in the UK to transform spent coffee grounds into value at an industrial scale, giving new life to a material previously considered waste”.
With the UK consuming 95 million cups of coffee every single day, we have a lot to thank them for. Without companies like Bio-bean, the UKs undevoted love for coffee would be just another landfill contributor, emitting harmful greenhouse gases.
Chester Zoo
The favourite zoo of many, and also an organisation with an incredible sustainable palm oil initiative. Chester Zoo runs a Sustainable Palm Oil challenge to protect the species at risk from deforestation in South East Asia. This is how Chester Zoo explains the scheme:
“There have been huge increases in the demand for certified sustainable palm oil but we can all do more to create demand by increasing awareness of the issue.
“The Sustainable Palm Oil Challenge is a way of celebrating the companies who are already committed to 100% RSPO certified sustainable palm oil, supporting those that want to be sustainable and making it easier for you to pick sustainable palm oil products at home.”
The experts at Chester Zoo work tirelessly to promote sustainable palm oil so that its more environmentally-damaging alternatives are not selected. And of course, practising what they preach and only using sustainable palm oil themselves.
Too Good To Go
One-third of all food produced worldwide is thrown away. A lot of this food waste is perfectly good to eat but restaurants and shops throw it away due to their company policies. Too Good To Go rightly believes that food produced should be food consumed. Their app allows you to select a shop/restaurant and “rescue food waste” for discounted prices.
Olenex
Specialists in edible oils, Olenex, supply a complete portfolio of high-quality edible oils and fats. This includes liquid oils, tropical oils, and speciality fat solutions. Like ourselves, Olenex operates under an NDPE policy (No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation) that extends throughout their entire supply chain.
Their stance on sustainability is nothing short of inspiring. They say they’re committed to: “...ensure that plantations and companies from whom we source will provide products that are free from links to deforestation and abuse of human rights, in line with our policy”.
Marks & Spencers
M&S have a strong direction when it comes to sustainability - they call it ‘Plan A’. In their words: “Plan A is our way to help build a sustainable future by being a business that enables our customers to have a positive impact on wellbeing, communities and the planet through all that we do.”
They have a completely transparent approach with their plan and produce regular reports to update on their progress. They take the same approach with their use of palm oil. M&S use around 4,800 tonnes of palm oil each year in their products, complimenting it for its “neutral flavour and aroma and great cooking properties it is incredibly useful and versatile”.
However, they’re determined to make sure this doesn’t contribute towards deforestation and have been working since 2006 to source more sustainably produced palm oil.
Patagonia
Sports and outdoor clothing brand, Patagonia, take a strict environmentally-friendly and socially responsible approach throughout their business. This includes using a high proportion of eco-friendly materials. Patagonia 68% of their line uses recycled materials; 100% of their virgin down is certified to Advanced Global Traceable Down standard, and 100% of the cotton they grow for clothing is grown organically.
Their desire to do better also extends socially. Patagonia has built a robust social-responsibility programme that analyses and manages the impacts Patagonia has on the workers and communities in the supply chain. Subsequently, 83% of their line is Fair Trade Certified™ sewn; and 66,000 workers are supported by the Fair Trade programme Patagonia participates in. Last year, CEO Rose Marcario announced their goal to be completely CO2 neutral by 2025.
EPOA
Leaders of the market transformation to 100% sustainable palm oil in Europe, EPOA (The European Palm Oil Alliance) is a business initiative of palm oil refiners and producers. They share our belief that palm oil is a valuable resource that provides numerous nutritional benefits; protects biodiversity and improve socio-economic development.
They say: “We push for sustainable palm oil market transformation and support initiatives committed to sustainable palm oil across Europe.”
To drive this forward, EPOA shares inspirational stories about the people that make sustainability a reality.
Tony’s Chocolonely
Aside from having an incredibly catchy name, Tony’s Chocolney are also the winners of the Sustainable Brand Index 2018 & 2019. They exist to eradicate slave-made chocolate and child labour in African cocoa industry. To do this, they price the chocolate a higher (and fairer) price for their product and invest in education for farmers to ensure the cocoa purchased is completely traceable. Traceability is an excellent way to ensure you’re delivering on your promise to act sustainably and ethically, which is why we mirror the same approach with our own products.
Tony's also partners with various ‘green’ organisations to improve their footprint. This includes Justdiggit who work on landscape restoration projects in Africa which reduces the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere.
They also partner with GoodFuels who are market leaders in sustainable biofuels and work with organisations to “create and implement sustainable solutions for land and sea”.
The sustainable approach is also embedded into the company lifestyle. Employees are said to have access to bikes; cleaners use biodegradable products, and used coffee grounds are collected and used as fertiliser.
Over to you…
Thankfully, there are many more brands we could have mentioned. But there could always be more. We’d love to hear how your organisation delivers on sustainability on our Twitter and LinkedIn pages.
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