Green issues are becoming increasingly important for the food and drinks industry. A report issued last week by the management and technology consultants Diamond suggested that introducing environmentally friendly and ethical practices into the supply chain is not only good for improving a company's image, it also improves operations and reduces costs.

Firms should look at measures to make their supply chains 'greener' not only because it is seen as 'doing the right thing' but because it is also the 'right thing to do', said Diamond.

Sharing best practice for greener food supply

A spokesperson for the FDF told FoodProductionDaily.com that: "the emphasis of the event was sharing best practice methods for developing a greener food and drink supply chain…the most important aspect was for companies to be inspired and take back to their places of work ideas for making a real difference to the environment for direct application of future development."

The spokesperson said that companies "large and small" attended, emphasising the importance of green issues across the industry.

The conference formed part of the FDF's work towards implementing its Five-Fold Environmental Ambition. It followed on from a similarly styled event held by FDF and LTN last year.

Best practice and partnership

"We are placing widespread adoption of best practice and partnership with Government best practice bodies at the heart of delivering our Five-Fold Environmental Ambition," said Callton Young, FDF Director of Sustainability.

"By hosting events where companies can share knowledge and experience in areas such as energy efficiency, transport and waste reduction we hope to stimulate uptake of best practice throughout the food chain," Young added.

Speakers came from some of the biggest food companies such as Cadbury, Tate & Lyle and United Biscuits.

There were presentations on carbon reduction, including challenges facing the industry, carbon management and improving the efficiency of refrigeration. There was also discussion on reducing the environmental impact of transport, the environmental impact of packaging, and waste prevention and recovery.

FDF Environmental Ambition

The FDF hopes to achieve a 20 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2010 compared with 1990 and to aspire to a 30 per cent reduction by 2020.

Also, to send zero food and packaging waste to landfill from 2015, make a contribution to WRAP's work to achieve a reduction in the level of packaging reaching households by 2010 compared with 2005, and provide more advice to customers on how best to recycle or recover used packaging.

Finally, the FDF hopes to be able to contribute to a reduction in water use in the industry by 20 per cent by 2020 compared with 2007, embed environmental standards in transport practices and contribute to an absolute target for the food chain to reduce its environmental and social impacts by 20 per cent by 2012 compared with 2002.