Tipperary-based ABP group receives two sustainability awards

ABP group, which has meat processing plants in Nenagh and Cahir, has won two prestigious international sustainability awards.

ABP was awarded the Sustainable Supplier Award by International Food Service and Production Group OSI in Munich. The company was also presented with a Sustainability Leadership Award at the Sustainable Food Awards 2019 in Amsterdam.

Both awards recognise ABP’s overall leadership and commitment to excellence in various aspects of sustainability, including packaging, manufacturing processes, energy sources and use, climate change, water management, waste management, resource usage, customer-supplier partnerships, and CSR and corporate philanthropy. 

ABP is on track to achieve its ambitious 2020 sustainability targets ahead of schedule, with a cumulative C02 emission reduction of 350,000 tonnes since 2008.  The company will soon become the first Irish meat processor to measure its environmental impact against science-based targets. The new science-based reporting will be against a 2016 baseline.

Dave O’Connell, ABP’s commercial director, said: “ABP is delighted to be acknowledged by two international awards. These awards are a great endorsement of all the work that is underway across our business to reduce our environmental footprint. The company continually strives to find new and innovative ways to improve our performance. We are looking forward to the challenge of adopting a science based measurement tool for our carbon reduction programme, which will closely align our sustainability agenda with the goals of the Paris climate accord.”

ABP is a founder-member of the recently formed Plastics Action Alliance group, along with other agri-food companies, that have the collective aim of making plastic packaging in their respective supply chains more sustainable.

The Sustainable Food Awards were launched by Ecovia Intelligence in 2018 and are the first awards in the international food industry that are fully dedicated to sustainability. The awards are co-hosted alongside the European edition of the Sustainable Foods Summit, an international summit that focuses on the leading issues the food industry faces concerning sustainability.

OSI Group is a global food processing and distribution company which supplies many of the leading global food service and restaurant brands and is an ABP customer. The sustainability award recognises leadership and innovation in sustainable practices.