SunOpta Reports Progress Towards Sustainability Goals

22 Sep 2016 --- SunOpta Inc., a leading global company focused on organic, non-genetically modified and specialty foods, released its sixth Corporate Sustainability Report. The report outlines SunOpta's ongoing efforts to integrate sustainability into its overall business strategy enabling it to reduce its environmental footprint and improve operational performance to accelerate shareholder value. 

"Sustainability is central to how SunOpta operates and our company's purpose to responsibly bring healthy food from field-to-table," said SunOpta Chief Executive Officer Rik Jacobs. "Our efforts around sustainability are key to our broader efforts to focus the company on the emerging healthy categories in which we hold significant competitive advantages. We're also committed to improving our operational performance to drive growth in operating margins to realize maximum shareholder value." 

SunOpta's approach is built on five platforms that are integrated into its overall business strategy: workplace, community, partnerships, environment and marketplace. These platforms allow the company address each dimension of sustainability in a way that serves customers' best-interests, improves the communities in which it operates and maximizes value for shareholders. 

Work on each of the five platforms guides SunOpta's overall efforts to become an increasingly sustainable organization. Highlights from this year's report include: 
• 78% waste diversion away from landfills at company facilities worldwide 
• 120 days-worth of time spent by employees volunteering for organizations that help bring well-being to life in their communities 
• 25% year-over-year improvement in employee engagement grand mean score across the company 
• 33% reduction in Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) compared to 2014 

SunOpta is committed to improving operational performance. The company's approach to sustainability supports this goal by encouraging efforts to streamline processes to reduce SunOpta's environmental footprint and improve gross margins, while realizing efficiencies in its supply chain and logistics operations.