Sustainability Archives - Females In Food

When you think of sustainability, what comes to mind? For many people, sustainability means recycling and working to save the environment. While this is true, there is so much more to sustainability than reducing your carbon footprint.

Sustainability is a concept where we work to meet our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. To accomplish this goal, there are three pillars we can impact: environmental, economical, and social.

Each of us has the ability to influence sustainability in our workplaces. To remember how, think of the three Ps tied to each pillar. Environmental sustainability is impacted by being conscious of the planet, economic sustainability is impacted through profits, and your behavior with people impacts social sustainability.

If you’re not sure what impact you can have on sustainability in your workplace, try one of these.

Environmental

Recycle

We’ve heard this since we were kids “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” It’s a tale as old as time. Recycling helps save natural resources, energy, and money. Utilize your company’s recycling receptacles instead of tossing cans or paper in the trash. If your company doesn’t provide you with a means to recycle, offer to implement a recycling program.

Work Remotely

This past year, many employees were forced to work remotely. A surprising benefit that came out of the pandemic was the positive effect it had on the environment. While less commuting saves you time and energy, it also reduces emissions and improves air quality. Working from home also reduces energy usage and paper usage at your office. Once we enter a post-pandemic world, explore the option of continuing to work remotely, even part-time, to continue to reap these benefits for the environment.

Go Digital

In 2014, the Clean Air Council and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that the average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of paper each year. That equates to four million tons of paper used annually in the office. By going paperless at work, you can have an immediate impact on the environment and your company’s bottom line.

Economical

Be Smart About Vendors

If you’re in a position at your company to make decisions around your suppliers and vendor partners, do your research before signing a contract. Consider what the vendor stands for and what their sustainability values are. Make sure that you’re creating partnerships that align with your company’s sustainability beliefs. If you’re not in a position to make the decisions, offer insight to those who are.

Establish a Sustainability Council

If your company is all talk and no action when it comes to sustainability, take the lead and offer to create a sustainability council. Recruit stakeholders and those interested in making an impact, and then outline a plan of your company’s goals and key initiatives. Sometimes the best way to get something off the ground is to start it yourself.

Social

Advocate for Diversity Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) in Your Workplace

Sustainable workplaces are diverse across races, genders, socioeconomic status, and more. For a company to be successful and impactful in their communities, they need to create and foster equitable environments that will lead to meaningful change. As an employee, be an advocate for DE&I. Support any current efforts or implement new program to support your fellow employees.

Create Opportunities

For a company to thrive and foster a culture of growth, employees and managers need to develop professionals. To do this, managers need to create development opportunities and challenge employees to expand their expertise. Peers can also create opportunities by making introductions to their connections and offering knowledge from personal experiences that would benefit others.

Support Women in their Careers

Fostering a sustainable workplace includes supporting women in their careers, and to support women in their careers, we need to form a community at work that supports women. We can support each other through mentoring young professionals, making space for others to grow in their careers, and supporting mothers at work. Supporting women at work doesn’t prevent the success of others or inhibit the company’s success. Remember, we are all stronger when we work together.

“As goes the fate of women, so goes the fate of the world”

Mars, Danone, McDonalds… all household names. And yet, we’ve had no idea how sustainable or environmentally friendly they truly are. For many years the food industry has been held unaccountable for its environmental impact, or at least far less accountable than its counterparts in oil, gas and transportation.

No longer. The 3 major corporations I just mentioned all boast exceptionally demonstrative Directors of Sustainability. What’s more? They are all female!

So what does 2021 bring the changing landscape of the food and beverage industries? The founder and Chair of the UK’s Meat Business Women, Ms. Laura Ryan, has highlighted that “diversity and gender balance should be at the heart of any sustainable and profitable business.”

Ryan, like many other industry leaders, cites equality as a pivotal influencer in the development of a more sustainable future. The UN itself has made gender equality the fifth agenda under their Sustainable Development Goals, explaining that “women often have a strong body of knowledge and expertise that can be used in climate change mitigation, disaster reduction, and adaptation strategies. Furthermore, women’s responsibilities in households and communities, as stewards of natural and household resources, positions them well to contribute to livelihood strategies adapted to changing environmental realities.”

Companies such as Hain Celestial are already leading the way, supporting farms, independent growers and food production plants in sustainable ways across the globe. One of the best examples is a Diana Food banana production site in Pasaje, Ecuador. Diana Food applies high standard sustainable farming methods (organic, community well-being, environmental footprint) in close collaboration with their producers: “Quality, food safety, and transparency are all part of our production process, from farm to fork.” If one of the biggest banana producers in the world can support a sustainable future for its workers and it’s wider environment, surely more can follow suit.

In fact, some have! An editor’s favorite is Copper Cow Coffee. Brainchild of Vietnamese-American, Debbie Wei Mullin, based in LA – Copper Cow Coffee is waving the flag for both female-run and sustainable businesses.

“Sustainability is extremely important to Copper Cow Coffee and what sets us apart from many other consumer coffee brands out there. We exclusively source from socially responsible, sustainable, organic farms in Vietnam and pay above the market rate to ensure that these farming communities can thrive and grow. We also use 100% biodegradable filters and recyclable packaging to drastically reduce our environmental impact.”

As one of the 2% of female-owned companies, globally, Copper Cow Coffee is the prodigy of combining female food industry mavericks, with sustainable and future conscious agendas.

Fortunate enough to be exposed to all facets and nuances of this industry – we’ve seen a plethora of highly-qualified and exceptionally effective women take the sustainability baton and wield it with pride… now, we want you to know about them too! Get ready to be fired up, inspired and sending off LinkedIn connection requests left, right and center….

Paloma Lopez – Global Strategy Lead, Kellogg’s Masterbrand at Kellogg Company @palomalpez

Paloma is an incredible leader using innovation, brands, and people power to drive sustainable growth. With an expertise in the food industry, she works to create value for people along the supply chain and for the natural places that are touched along the way.

Jessica Sansom – Former Head of Sustainability for Innocent Drinks

Jessica is a leader in building sustainability strategies for the food and beverage industries and balances looking at packaging, water management, carbon management, workers’ rights and sustainable agriculture, just to name a few.

Elaine Strunk – Director of Global Sustainability for McDonald’s @ElaineStrunk

Elaine is driving change at scale through McDonald’s global network. Elaine’s expertise is at the intersection of technology, business and design to create positive change in the food industry.

Kate Wylie – Global Vice-President of Sustainability for Mars

Kate leads Mars Inc sustainable sourcing framework, socioeconomic impact strategy, work with the €120 million investment fund, Livelihoods Fund for Family Farming, and sits on Mars’ Sustainability Strategy and Policymaking Group.

Helen Browning OBE – organic farmer and chief executive, Soil Association (UK)

Helen was championing organic long before it went mainstream, ever since taking over her family’s farm in her twenties. Three decades on and she hasn’t looked back. Helen continues to run Eastbrook, a 1,500 acre mixed-holding organic farm, and is passionate about providing her animals with the best life possible. Alongside her role as a farmer she is also Chief Executive of the Soil Association, the UK’s leading food and farming charity. Helen has also put her name to two local ventures just around the corner from her farm in Swindon – the Chop House and the Royal Oak, both of which serve down-to-earth organic food sourced straight from the farm.

Kalpna Woolf – business leader and award-winning food writer

A former Head of Production for the BBC, Kalpna has founded her own media company, sat on the boards of charities and business partnerships and launched a program to help organizations promote diversity at the highest levels. But alongside her business credentials, Kalpna has a passion for food and has been driven to share this passion with others. She has been at the helm of food festivals, judged food awards, and is the founder of 91 Ways to Build a Global City, a Bristol-based initiative bringing the city’s 91 language communities together by using food to tell the stories of their traditions and culture. Kalpna is also the author of Spice Yourself Slim, a best-selling book on food and health that draws on her childhood of healthy, flavourful Asian cooking.

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall

Globally, women are the core food purchasers. As ‘stewards of natural household resources’, women must be part of creating sustainable solutions in the supply chain. Over 70% of food buying decisions are made by women – making us vital change influencers in the ways in which we grow, manufacture and sell our consumable products. The women listed above are just a handful of those who are igniting the flame for our sustainable food future.

Do you know some more? We’d love to hear about the women YOU admire in the food and beverage industry, when it comes to creating a bold & bright future. Send us a note at contact@femalesinfood.community

8 Ways You Can Impact Sustainability at Work Today