Bonduelle Fresh Americas, the U.S.-based, wholly owned subsidiary of Bonduelle, has released its inaugural Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report, which showcases its progress in FY20 against the comprehensive CSR strategy announced in 2019 and toward becoming B Corp certified by 2025.
In 2020, the company introduced the B!Pact—a framework of its CSR goals to underline its firm pledge to the planet, food, and people. “Through the B!Pact strategy, we’re able to make meaningful progress on a series of concrete actions as we work toward achieving our CSR goals and acquiring B Corp certification by 2025. This triple commitment tied to planet, food, and people ladders up to who we are as a purpose-driven company and furthers our positive impact ambition,” says Head of Corporate Social Responsibility Mathew Caldwell.
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Bonduelle Fresh Americas has made strong progress against goals related to climate change, agricultural practices, water and energy usage, waste, packaging, virgin plastic reduction, and recycling. Highlights include:
- Eliminated 18% of its virgin plastic in 2020
- Facilities collectively enhanced energy efficiency by 4%, the equivalent of approximately 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide being removed from the atmosphere
- Manufacturing facilities reached a 62% waste diversion rate, which amounted to more than 22,000 metric tons of reused and recycled materials
- 100% of growers use alternative crop techniques (ACTs) to protect and nourish the land
Bonduelle Fresh Americas also has made progress against goals related to food safety and responsible sourcing. Highlights include:
- 100% of the Bonduelle Fresh Americas facilities maintain certification from the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) each year
- Completed a risk assessment in 2020 to better understand and optimize how suppliers contribute to its purpose and B!Pact goals.
Under the business unit’s commitment to people, Bonduelle Fresh Americas has made progress against goals related to ethics, human rights, health and safety, diversity equity and inclusion, and community impact. Highlights include:
- Donated nearly 500,000 lb of surplus food to those in need through partnering organizations
- Analyzed employee data and found that 90% of workforce identified as being racially diverse and found that the business unit had nearly equal gender representation (missed by only 1%)
- Adopted Bonduelle Group’s Ethics Charter and an updated Code of Conduct, available online to employees in 13 different languages.
“There is no one solution for the global challenges we face, and no single person, company, or organization that can solve all the problems at hand,” says Guillaume Debrosse, CEO of the Bonduelle Group. “However, at Bonduelle, we believe that we can make a difference in contributing to the well-being of people and the planet. We are proud of the positive impact we have made, and we are grateful to our stakeholders for their part in these achievements. We will continue to hold ourselves accountable, keep working to deliver on our goals, and continue to be transparent about our progress along the way.”
