2021 Impact Awards
SUSTAINABILITY continued smallholder farmers who grow its key herbs and spices. McCormick has also committed to mapping women’s contributions in its supply chains and piloting an integrated global approach to women’s empowerment. “McCormick has adopted a holistic approach to these goals, combining them all under our Grown for Good framework, the first of its kind in the herb and spice industry,” says Michael Okoroafor, McCormick’s vice-president, global sustainability and packaging innovation. “We work with external stakeholders to identify the needs of our sourcing communities and create projects to enhance their social and economic livelihoods.” This year, McCormick achieved 100% sustainable sourcing of its branded red pepper. To promote farmer and community resiliency in red pepper communities, the company funded the installation of safe drinking water facilities, improving water quality in four villages in India where red pepper is grown. McCormick also provided PPE and training to approximately 7,000 households in India during the pandemic through its partnership with CARE International.
Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee
MOTHER PARKERS; SLEEMAN; SOBEYS; MCCORMICK & COMPANY
Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee’s Water Wise project in the Lempa region of Honduras began as part of its effort to address water-related issues in coffee-growing origin countries while improving lives, ecology and economies. Working with CARE Canada, the initiative provides coffee producers with training in resilient water practices, while supporting innovative waste management solutions that prevent waste water and coffee pulp from returning untreated to local water sources. So far, 1,459 producers have completed the Good Agricultural Practices training program.
“This effort is important to Mother Parkers as it supports the education of coffee farmers, which will improve their livelihood as coffee producers in crop management (yield, fertilization and crop diversification), farm management (energy, waste and financial management) and social (involvement of women and youth),” says Shannon Higgins, director of corporate sustainability at Mother Parkers. To date, the company has supported 53 waste water management systems by producers and implemented 60 new water catchment systems. Water Wise also supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by addressing clean water, sanitation and gender equality. “We are currently in year four or five of this project and are overachieving in many of our key indicators,” says Higgins. “We hope to continue Water Wise and seek to advance into more coffee-growing regions.”
Sleeman Breweries With water such a vital resource to the planet—and in making beer—Sleeman has taken action to reduce its water usage every day. By upgrading equipment and modifying its brewing processes across facilities years ago, Canada’s third-largest brewer has incurred daily water savings of 298,000 litres (equal to 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools annually). Its Guelph, Ont. location uses an anaerobic digestion process to treat excess water waste before sending it to the city’s system to ease the municipality’s treatment load. Sustainability efforts don’t tap out at water, either. The first brewer and food
McCormick is helping improve drinking water in four villages in India
Mother Parkers’ Water Wise project addresses water issues in Honduras
Left: Sleeman has taken action to reduce water usage; Right: Sobeys was the first national grocer to ban plastic bags
and beverage company to be certified by the Recycling Council of Ontario, Sleeman runs a nearly zero food waste cycle by giving spent yeast, malt and hops to local farmers for cattle feed. To encourage all employees to think sustainably, Sleeman has its own Green Team, launching initiatives such as vegetable gardens at many of its sites, as well as a bike-towork/carbon-offset program in its Vernon, B.C. location. “We are very fortunate to have employees from across Canada who are dedicated and passionate about lowering our company’s carbon footprint. The progress we’ve made in our sustainability efforts is an achievement we all share here at Sleeman Breweries,” says Linden Gossen, national environmental health & safety manager.
Sobeys Sobeys has sustainability in the bag. In January 2020, the Empire-owned retailer eliminated plastic bags at checkouts at all 255 Sobeys stores across Canada. The move, which made Sobeys the first national grocer to ban plastic bags, was based on research, industry-led conversations, and extensive media monitoring. However, the retailer says Canadians were a major catalyst for change: customers were voicing concerns about plastics and asking how Empire was working to reduce single-use plastics. Empire provided stores with an action plan and key milestones to deplete existing bag stock, train staff, and prepare for the elimination of plastic bags. The company also launched a marketing campaign to say goodbye to single-use plastic bags and encourage customers to use reusable bags. To date, customers are bringing reusable bags or not using bags at all, eight out of 10 times when shopping in its grocery stores. As of May 2021, Empire has expanded the elimination of single-use plastic checkout bags to 15 of its banners and with all 15 banners combined, this equates to approximately 800 million bags removed from circulation annually. “Our customers, teammates, communities, and investors drive our commitment to protect the planet and reduce our impacts. That is why the elimination of plastic bags from our network was so important to us,” says Mohit Grover, senior vice-president, innovation, sustainability and strategy at Sobeys. “This is just the start of our plastics journey. We are excited to continue to innovate for our future.”
September/October 2021 || CANADIAN GROCER 33