Read the full story at Ensia.
As demand for resources grows, a strategy that focuses solely on food production while ignoring inefficiency and waste will not be enough.
Category Archives: Food processing
Wasted Opportunity
Dairy Industry Launches Sustainability Reporting Guide
Read the full story in Environmental Leader.
The Innovation Center for US Dairy has published a guide to help dairy companies and farms measure and report on sustainability.
The Stewardship and Sustainability Guide for US Dairy identifies indicators for assessing dairy sustainability and communicating results. The indicators are based on scientific life cycle assessment studies commissioned by the Innovation Center, and the practical experience of industry members and others from nongovernmental, academic and government organizations.
Beyond the pale ale: A guide to sustainable beer
Read the full story at Grist.
After weeks of painstakingly thorough research and dedicating my body to the noble profession of journalism by acting as my own guinea pig, I have come to the following conclusion: Beer is awesome.
From its humble beginning as a brewmaster’s hazy notion until that sweet moment when it hits your lips, your brewski may be part of a master plan to bring you an environmentally friendly, carefully sourced, community minded, local-economy-driving, happiness-inducing good time. (That is, unless you’re drinking Coors. They want your money but they don’t really care if you have a good time.)
But not all beers are created equal, so in the name of fearless truth-telling, I spoke to brewers and beer experts from across the country, traveled to a distant land known as Soho, and of course, drank plenty of beer. I did all of this in hopes that you, the public, might be better equipped in evaluating the virtuousness of your brew.
Starbucks, SABMiller take holistic approach to sustainability
Read the full story at GreenBiz.
Food and beverage companies don’t have it easy. Climate change, rapid population growth and competition for dwindling natural resources all pose huge threats.
Yet the industry is making the least progress in tackling these issues and reducing its environmental impact, according to advisory firm KPMG. At the same time, the financial cost of these environmental changes continues to grow at a rapid pace, hitting $200 billion in 2010, more than any other sector.
But a growing number of large multinational agribusinesses and food companies, including Starbucks and SABMiller, are facing these sustainability risks head-on using a large-scale approach that recognizes the interconnectedness of water, food, energy and climate, according to a new report from Landscapes for People, Food and Nature initiative, a collaboration of nine of the world’s leading anti-hunger, conservation and development organizations.
How AB InBev brews water, waste and energy savings
Read the full story at GreenBiz.
The world’s biggest beer brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, has met its three-year environmental goals for water, energy and waste, in large part because of dedicated process controls and technology that allows almost real-time insight into these metrics across 95 percent of its global operations.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Wins with Biochar
Read the full story at Triple Pundit.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is funding a fantastic biochar processing project through the NGOs Radio Lifeline and Black Earth Project in Rwanda. One of the lesser known and most underestimated renewable energy options, biochar is a process that breaks down biomass into a fertilizing substance that sequesters carbon, and that is the stuff that makes the Amazon’s soil so productive.
Häagen-Dazs to pilot sustainable vanilla sourcing program
Read the full story at GreenBiz.
The brand known for its rich ice cream is hoping to spread some riches back to vanilla’s source: the farmers in Madagascar who supply Häagen-Dazs and its parent company, Minneapolis-based General Mills.
A two-year pilot training program set to launch this spring among villages in the country’s northeastern Sava region aims to provide training and education to several hundred farmers on how to cure vanilla. Curing — a multistep process that includes drying and storing the pods as a way to release their trademark fragrance — is performed mainly by vanilla suppliers and traders. Farmers will receive access to equipment and curing facilities as part of the program.
3 ways businesses can target consumer food waste
Read the full story at GreenBiz.
Note: This is the second of a two-part series on food waste. The first part is available here: 3 reasons businesses should target consumer food waste.
Americans love convenience, and throwing away unwanted food is very convenient. My recent article describes why businesses should encourage their customers to throw away less food. Next comes the question of how: How can businesses target consumer food waste? Let’s look at the options. Note that your business situation and customers are unique, so you will want to use a customized strategy.
Consumer-facing food waste reduction strategies fall into three categories:
- Helping customers buy less food.
- Helping customers use food they buy.
- Helping customers understand the impacts of food waste.
Sustainability as Innovation Strategy: How Sustainability and Innovation Drive Each Other and Company Competitiveness at Danone
Read the full story at Management Innovation Exchange.
Sustainability is a powerful way to generate innovation at Danone, producing creativity through presenting new problems to solve, establishing big goals that force people to think differently and fostering contradictions. Employees are then empowered to act, thus generating innovation. Sustainability and innovation drive each other and together they increase competitiveness.
Vending Reinvented: Imagine a supermarket where packaged goods are made to order
Read the full story in The Hub Magazine.
It’s amazing how technology has changed our lives over the last few decades with the advent of personal computers, smart phones, and the internet. However, with the exception of improvements at self check-out, the retail store remains essentially unchanged, especially the store shelves. As marketers seek to satisfy the desires and preferences of an ever growing populous with pre-packaged flavors, scents and sizes, the proliferation of product offerings clogs our shelves, confuses our shoppers and stresses our planet.
We need to rethink product packaging, as it is the single largest category of landfill waste and the biggest component of ocean litter that harms marine life. The average American produces about 4.4 pounds of garbage a day and 1,600 pounds a year. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that the energy to produce, use and dispose of products and packaging, accounts for 44 percent of total US greenhouse gas emissions. While we have embraced the convenience of disposability, the reality is that a disposable society is no longer a sustainable one.
The world simply cannot continue to satisfy the variety of consumer desires with pre-packaged goods. I envision something radically different. By incorporating the sophisticated technologies of modern culture, we can create game-changing packaging solutions for a more sustainable future.
