Sustainability Snippets: Malaysian big brands' recycling alliance, Thai Union sustainability crusade, top 2021 updates and more feature in our round-up
Collaborating with competitors: Nestle, Coca-Cola and Unilever among major brands uniting to boost recycling in Malaysia
Major brands such as Nestle, Coca-Cola, Mondelez, F&N and Unilever are joining forces to drive the sustainability agenda in Malaysia, via a new alliance that will tackle plastic food and beverage packaging concerns.
MAREA is Malaysia’s first-ever Extended Producer Responsibility (ERP) association, and is chaired by Nestle Malaysia CEO Juan Aranols. The association was established in January 2021, but only just recently saw its formal launch on January 21 2022.
The alliance’s members comprise of 10 well-known FMCG brands in Malaysia - Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Dutch Lady Milk Industries, Etika Group of Companies, F&N Malaysia, Mondelēz International (Malaysia), Nestlé Malaysia, Spritzer, Tetra Pak Malaysia and Unilever Malaysia.
“Although we can be fierce competitors in the market, we also know that working together is necessary to address the plastic challenge that faces us [as] together we manufacture daily products for millions of consumers,” said Aranols at the launch event.
Workers’ rights, climate change, food waste: Thai Union says still a long way to go in sustainability crusade
Seafood giant Thai Union has unveiled a raft of new sustainability initiatives, spanning employee rights, climate change and food loss, as it pledges to build on the high scores it received in the international Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI).
The firm captured the second global ranking in the DJSI’s Food Products Industry Index, receiving 99th and 100th percentile scores for various assessed criteria including governance, economic, environment and social, with an overall 99th percentile sustainability score.
“There are immense challenges for businesses, especially global businesses, and the seafood industry that is continuously [to] achieve sustainability targets, and this takes an enormous amount of work and commitment,” said Thai Union President and CEO Thiraphong Chansiri.
Sustainable success: The Top 10 sustainability stories from the APAC food and beverage industry in 2021
Bringing you the top 10 most-read sustainability stories from the food and beverage industry in 2021, featuring sustainability news from big names like Nestle and Al Ain, on sea cucumbers, palm oil and more.
Sweet sustainability: Australian Honey Ventures set foot in Kuwait and UAE with medicinal range
Australian Honey Ventures is set to launch its medicinal honey brand, Real Good Honey, in Kuwait and UAE this March, with plans to expand further into the Middle East.
The firm develops medicinal honey with anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties said to promote wound healing and can kill infectious pathogens including fungi.
Its first honey brand called BeeWell was launched in 2020 in China. It is sold on Tmall in China, HKTVMall in Hong Kong, and not sold in Australia.
“We sold approximately between 10 to 15,000 jars of BeeWell honey in the China market, but due to the trade wars between Australia and China, it’s becoming quite difficult to push,” said MD Jay Curtin.
Vertical farming innovator Infarm leverages speed and cost advantage for global growth
Urban farming group Infarm has secured an investment of US$200m to accelerate the global expansion of its ‘climate-resilient’ vertical farms. CEO Erez Galonska tells us the company is able to set up vertical farms faster and cheaper than the competition.
Vertical farm developer Infarm is eyeing rapid global scale-up.
Today, the company reports commercial operations in 50 cities across 11 countries in Europe, North America and Asia. It operates more than 17 ‘growing centres’ – larger-scale indoor farms – and over 1,400 in-store farms for 30 of the world’s retailers. By 2030, it plans to significantly increase its presence to 100 growing centres in 20 countries. In the next few years, the European food tech firm is preparing to extend its footprint in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
“What we can say for now is that in addition to expanding and strengthening our existing networks in the US, Canada and Japan, we are actively looking to new markets in the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, starting with Qatar in 2023,” co-founder and chief executive Erez Galonska said.
