Cargill Receives Seven “Best of Sustainable Supply” Awards by McDonald’s

02 Apr 2014 --- McDonald’s, one of Cargill’s largest global customers, has honored Cargill with seven “Best of Sustainable Supply” awards, including two category winners for community impact and economics. McDonald’s bestows the awards to recognize outstanding supplier leadership in helping provide a safe, sustainable and assured supply of food and products for its customers, and to encourage the sharing of best practices in sustainability.

“We strive every day to help our customers achieve their goals, including helping them deliver more sustainable products, services and solutions,” said Pete Richter, head of Cargill’s McDonald’s Business Unit. “The seven projects honored today range from work we do in direct partnership with McDonald’s to initiatives we lead as we make corporate responsibility integral to our day-to-day operations.”

The Cargill projects recognized by McDonald’s are helping reduce environmental impacts, improving sustainability and enabling farmers and rural communities to prosper. They include:
• Raising yields of canola per acre to fulfill McDonald’s requirements for high-oleic canola oil;
• Establishing Indonesia’s first palm oil teaching farm;
• Implementing renewable energy sources in chicken housing to reduce the housing’s carbon footprint while improving animal health;
• Helping cocoa farmers implement sustainable practices, improve production and quality and earn better prices;
• Collaborating with World Wildlife Fund to boost corn production while protecting environmentally sensitive lands in Northeast China’s Jilin province;
• Setting environmental targets for stevia cultivation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, water use and waste and ensure Truvia stevia is not grown on conservation or protected lands;
• Working with CARE to reduce hunger, increase farmer productivity and improve children’s education.

These seven Cargill projects were among 51 honored by McDonald’s with its 2014 Best of Sustainable Supply awards.

McDonald’s leadership and industry experts recognized sustainable accomplishments across eight platforms: Climate Change and Energy; Water; Waste; Land and Biodiversity; Human Health and Welfare; Animal Health and Welfare; Community Impact and Economics. A total of 51 entries were recognized from nearly 600 submissions received. Click here to access the full “Best of Sustainable Supply” report.
 
“Our suppliers continue to go above and beyond to provide sustainable leadership and take their commitment to preserving resources seriously,” said Jose Armario, executive vice president, McDonald’s Global Supply Chain, Development & Franchising. “We are fortunate to work with such a diverse and dedicated group of suppliers to service our 35,000 global restaurants and 70 million customers each day.”
 
McDonald’s “2014 Best of Sustainable Supply” report highlights included:

Community Impact
The Campbell Soup Company led a “Just Peachy” project that re-purposed fruit to raise non-profit funds and combat hunger. 

Water
 Through innovation and collaboration, the Lamb Weston / Meijer team created Innowater (renewed water), a technology to purify water to reuse in manufacturing processes.

Waste
ConAgra Foods established the “Zero Waste Champion” Recognition Program. The award is earned by facilities that have diverted at least 95% of solid waste from landfills during the fiscal year and continuously strive to further reduce waste through process modifications and diversion of materials for the most beneficial reuse.

Climate Change and Energy
The Coca-Cola Company routed orange juice from a processing facility to a bottling plant via an underground, 1.2 mile pipeline. It has eliminated the need for an average of 70 tanker trucks per day and provides cost savings and reduces the company’s carbon emissions by approximately 20 million tons per year.

“It is critical to recognize progress in sustainability to encourage more of it," said Christine Bader, human rights advisor to BSR (Business for Social Responsibility). "By highlighting good practices among its supply chain partners, McDonald's is rewarding the sort of innovation that we all want to see."
 
“Selecting a small list of winners from such a robust group of entrants was challenging,” said John Davies, vice president, GreenBiz. “Every entry was valid, with all programs demonstrating impressive ingenuity and results. It boiled down to identifying entries that were innovative and impactful, and programs that could not only enhance sustainability in the broader industry, but ideas that were sustainable themselves.” Davies and Bader were two of 14 judges on the selection committee, collectively representing 13 different companies and organizations.  A complete list of the judges is available in the full “Best of Sustainable Supply” report.