Produce World makes significant progress on environmental targets

The Produce World Group has reduced the amount of waste it is sending to landfill by 29 per cent, and seen a fall in its CO2 emissions of 28 per cent according to the latest report on its Corporate and Social Responsibility Programme.

Field factory harvesting broccoli

The report outlines the progress made on each of the four pillars of the programme: Environmental Stewardship, Workplace Culture, Responsible Sourcing and Community Impact.

During 2011 the Group set itself a target of reducing landfill by 10 per cent and CO2 emissions by 6 per cent, both of which were exceed by considerable margins. In the area of Workplace Culture, the report highlights the introduction of the Pride of Produce World Awards which recognised achievements by employees across the business. During the year absence rates for employees were reduced to 1.53 per cent against a previous rate of 2 per cent.

William Burgess

On the subject of Responsible Sourcing the report explains how internal auditing is monitoring the social and environmental performance of the company’s key growers. Other key initiatives in this area include agronomy research; sharing data on crop performance from field to factory; the Soil for Life Project, which is making a crucial impact on the way growers select fields; and water stewardship including the development of water reduction strategies.

Produce World’s Community Impact during 2011 included £9000 of donations as well as 314 hours of employee time contributed to community projects. Highlights included the support given to the Peterborough Green Festival which aimed to raise awareness of local and global environment among people in Peterborough.

Chief Executive William Burgess said: “I’m convinced that sustainable, responsible business is good business. In fact, together with my fellow directors I believe it is the only way to business. This report shows the excellent progress we are making across the four pillars of our Corporate Social Responsibility Programme, but we are far from complacent and will continue to drive further progress in the year ahead.”

Read the full CSR report here: http://www.produceworld.co.uk/csrreport.pdf