Fast Food Suppliers Urged To Cut Water & Carbon Risks
A group of investors have called on fast food suppliers like KFC and McDonald’s to reduce the carbon and water risks in their dairy and meat supply chain in order to help tackle the issue of climate change.
According to the BBC, the coalition has targeted some of the biggest companies in the world, including Domino’s, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Pizza Hut and Burger King, with the sector as a whole worth £570 billion.
They are now calling on such brands to implement clear requirements for their suppliers to report and reduce greenhouse gases, as well as their impacts on freshwater resources.
Eugenie Mathieu of Aviva Investors, which is one of the signatories, explained that increasing global temperatures and heightened competition for water access are now considered material factors when it comes to making investments.
“This is especially the case in the meat and dairy sector. From field to fork, investors want to understand which food companies are monitoring and minimising the long-term environmental risks in their supply chain. This engagement sends a clear message to the fast food sector that investors expect them to deliver sustainable supply chains,” she went on to say.
Mindy Lubber from non-profit organisation Ceres went on to add that investors are now keen to see such companies take more leadership on the issues of reducing climate and water risks.
Cleaning up the supply chain will help to reduce water waste and eliminate deforestation, having a huge impact on the animal agriculture sector and increasing the chances of meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement to put a cap on global warming.
If you want to follow suit and start doing your bit to help save water, you can look into the likes of water recycling and similar conservation techniques – which are relatively simple for your business to implement right now.
Recycling water is actually one of the best and most efficient ways for you to save both money and water on site, using the discarded water from activities like vehicle washing, irrigation and toilet flushing instead of mains water.
Some suppliers, such as Anglian Water, are already using innovative systems to make good use of waste water. This is cleaned and returned to rivers, where it can be reused for irrigation and even drinking water once it’s been treated.
Those companies working within the leisure and hospitality industries stand to benefit from this kind of recycling in particular because they use so much water on a daily basis. It’s been proven that these systems can save some organisations up to 50 per cent on their water costs, so it’s certainly worth looking into.
If you’d like to find out more about this kind of process and how it can be enacted on site, get in touch with us here at H2O Building Services today.