Tulip, a subsidiary of the Danish Crown Group,has announced commitments to tackling plastic usage and food waste as part of its new CSR policy.
The commitments form a crucial element of Danish Crown’s ‘Feeding the World’ programme, which aspires to create a sustainable future for meat in the global market by rethinking solutions for the entire value chain, from farm to fork.
Andrew Wright, Tulip’s head of CSR (pictured), said: “These initial partnerships with WRAP, Friends of Champions 12.3 and FareShare are a great starting point for our new CSR policy. Our role as farmers and food manufacturers is to feed the world sustainably and responsibly for generations to come. Our CSR policy will provide a clear set of values to help us further inspire trust and loyalty from our people and partners, reaffirming our commitment to working in local communities and supporting our aim to be a preferred employer of choice.”
Commitment #1 – UK Plastics Pact
Tulip has signed up to The UK Plastics Pact, which is committed to hit a series of ambitious targets by 2025. The targets include using 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging, ensuring that 70% of plastic packaging is effectively recycled or composted, using 30% average recycled content across all plastic packaging and eliminating problematic or unnecessary single-use plastic packaging through redesign, innovation or alternative (re-use) delivery models.
Tulip has already made great strides towards hitting these targets and are signatories of Courtauld 2025, a voluntary commitment to reduce the resources required to produce food in the UK by 20% by 2025.
Marcus Gover, WRAP’s chief executive, said: “We welcome Tulip’s commitment to reduce plastic waste. Through The UK Plastics Pact we are working together with governments, citizens and business to transform the way we make, use and dispose of plastic so that we retain its value, particularly in reducing food waste, but prevent it from polluting the environment. We are delighted that Tulip, as a prominent player in the food manufacturing sector, is joining us in this ground-breaking work.”
Commitment #2 – Food Waste
Research from WRAP indicates that 100,000 tonnes of pork products which could have been eaten are thrown away every year. Tulip is now a signatory of The Friends of Champions 12.3 network, formally pledging alignment to the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to reduce global food waste by 50% by 2030.
As one of the steps towards reaching the SDG food waste goal, Tulip has signed a partnership agreement with the charity FareShare to help manage surplus food generated within its production facilities. FareShare works to ensure fit-for-consumption food is safely and securely re-distributed to charities and community groups instead of being wasted.
Mr Wright added: “The SDG pledge will help Tulip to continue to minimise food loss and waste throughout the value chain. This is a key issue to address given the economic, social and environmental cost of food waste, and one which resonates strongly with our commitment to move towards a circular economy.
“In addition, our renewed partnership with FareShare will help us ensure all edible surplus food within our operation feeds people rather than going to waste.”
