Published at 2019, November 29th
The European Week for Waste Reduction is an important moment in the year for raising awareness to wider audiences of the problem of waste and for committing to reducing waste. Everyone can take part, on whatever scale, from local authorities and communities to non-profit organizations, individuals and companies.
It’s also a good time for Bonduelle Group to reflect on its own initiatives to encourage employees to take part in the fight against waste. Mathilde Goussault, CSR Manager at Bonduelle, explains.
Plastic waste: a global problem which threatens humans and life
According to a WWF report on plastic waste, since the 1950s plastic production has increased 200 times, reaching 396 million tons in 2016. That’s approximately 53 kg of plastic for each of the world’s inhabitants! If the production of plastic continues to increase in this way, this figure could rise by another 40% by 2030.
Aside from the CO2 generated by plastic production – which represented 6% of total greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere in 2016 – the main problem caused by plastic is its use. Plastic is primarily used to make throwaway products, with 75% of the plastic products produced since the mid-20th century now being waste, which is often poorly managed.
Increased plastic waste has consequences for the environment, humans and the economy. In terms of the environment, plastic waste presents a risk to animals which ingest it, and is responsible for the mass pollution of soil, rivers and oceans due to microplastics which alter their properties. For humans, the risks are primarily linked to ingestion, air pollution by microparticles or water and soil pollution. Finally, increased plastic waste has an impact on certain sectors of the economy, such as tourism and fishing.
Fighting waste, and particularly plastic waste, is a real challenge for society. We all have to take action to limit production, but also to ensure the recycling and collection of waste.
World Cleanup Day: a team-building tool and a new way to help engage co-workers in the fight against waste
To limit the impact of plastic waste on health and the environment, more and more citizens, non-profit organizations and companies are taking action. With an increase in waste in public places, litter-picking activities are on the rise. Some sports clubs are encouraging their members to “plog”, picking up litter while jogging. Non-profit organizations are picking up cigarette butts and companies are giving employees the opportunity to take time out to collect waste.
This is the case at Bonduelle, which for the last two years has taken part in World Cleanup Day. Organized by Let’s Do It! World, World Cleanup Day encourages companies to get their co-workers to pick up litter for one day in September. The initiative has been a great success: this year in France, 265,000 people collected 840 tons of waste. This included plastic packaging and cigarette butts, as well as more unusual finds such as dentures, crutches, “adult” films and even a gun!
At Bonduelle, 418 employees across 20 sites around the world, in Russia, the United States, Canada and France, took part in World Cleanup Day. In total, through their efforts they collected more than 1,500 kg of waste.
However, spending a day cleaning up nature didn’t only have benefits for the environment: it also had benefits for team-building and integration. World Cleanup Day is an excellent way to mobilize employees. It is an opportunity to build relationships between employees in different departments, to erase hierarchical relationships and, above all, to unite to work together and help the planet. This event fits directly into Bonduelle Group’s Everyone Involved approach.
Bonduelle and Everyone Involved: allowing employees to play an active part in CSR projects
Bonduelle Group has set itself several CSR objectives to achieve by 2025: caring for cultivated land, reducing its environmental impact, encouraging people to eat sustainable food, ensuring the well-being of its employees and local communities, and encouraging all its employees to take part in its CSR strategy. To help reach this final objective, in 2016 Bonduelle launched Everyone Involved.
Thanks to Everyone Involved, a number of initiatives have been developed. Employees in plants can attend workshops to help them understand the main CSR issues and what can they do, including launching their own projects. And for those who have ideas but don’t know how to put them into practice, the company is offering customized help through its #Tomorrow at Bonduelle program.
Thanks to these initiatives, numerous projects have already been put in place to great success, some of which are directly linked to reducing and managing waste, complementing the existing good practice in the group.
For example, a workshop inspired co-workers at the Labenne (France) plant to think about how they could reduce and make use of their green waste. They decided to install a composter, as well as a system allowing anaerobic digestion, to help give the plant a green energy resource.
Just like World Cleanup Day, these projects – whether large or small – allow co-workers to play a significant part in CSR. These initiatives also tie in with another of the group’s key CSR objectives: to make 100% of Bonduelle’s packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. By getting all its teams involved in its CSR policy, Bonduelle is playing a part in the transition towards a world which is more respectful of the planet and of life.
