ABP Food Group has become the first company in Ireland to receive triple certification for water, carbon and waste reduction initiatives from the Carbon Trust, a leading authority on monitoring the efforts of companies and governments to reduce their environmental impact.
ABP joins only four other companies in the UK to have received all three Carbon Trust awards, with Marks & Spencers, Whitbread, PwC and AkzoNobel UK the other businesses to have achieved this standard.
The certification follows ABP’s introduction of its ‘Doing More with Less Programme’ in 2010 when it set itself challenging sustainability targets including:
- 10% reduction in water usage by 2020
- 20% reduction in energy usage by 2020
- 25% reduction in CO2 output from our plants by 2020
- Zero to landfill by 2015
Commenting on the award ABP’s Group sustainability and environmental manager, John Durkan said: “ABP has demonstrated year on year progress towards the challenging targets we have set ourselves to reduce the environmental footprint of our business. I am delighted that these efforts have been recognised and certified by a globally recognised body like the Carbon Trust. ABP is at the forefront of Irish businesses demonstrating that sustainability and success can go hand in hand.”
ABP’s successful programme has ensured reductions across a range of environmental targets:
- Carbon: The Carbon Trust Standard for reduced greenhouse gas emissions was awarded based on ABP reducing its CO2 emissions by 6,797 tonnes, a reduction of 4.4% year on year, the equivalent to the amount of CO2 produced by 3.3m kilos of coal;
- Water: The Carbon Trust Water Standard for reducing water usage year on year by 7.1%, a total reduction of 133,000 cubic metres or enough water for over 7 million washing machines cycles; and
- Waste: The Carbon Trust Waste Standard for reduction of waste output, with a reduction of 9.6% year on year, or 6,488 tonnes. ABP Ireland achieved its zero to landfill target in 2013 while the rest of the Group is on course to achieve the 2015 target.
Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, said: “ABP is the first food processing company to achieve independent certification to the Carbon Trust Standard for reductions in carbon, water and waste. Achieving the Carbon Trust Standard ensures that an organisation has made genuine progress in reducing the environmental impact of its business year on year.”
Examples of projects that have helped ABP hit these targets include the use of better and more efficient fuel boilers; an awareness campaign to dramatic increase recycling levels in all plants, and harvesting of rain water for use in truck washes at distribution depots.