Sustainable Business magazine - essential reading for sustainability professionals
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/137958
According to its 2012 sustainability report, the 30% reduction takes the company a step closer towards its 2015 water reduction target of 40%. Last year, Colgate's global manufacturing water usage stood at around 1.1 million cubic metres per tonne of product, a drop from 1.5 million cubic metres in 2005. German healthcare firm Bayer reduced its water consumption by 6.6% in 2012 compared with the previous year, partly due to the closure of one of its production sites in the US. Accounting for around 75% of the total water used by Bayer, total volume of cooling water was approximately 301 million cubic metres in 2012, a reduction of about 7% compared with the previous year. According to its 2012 sustainability report, cooling water is only heated and does not come into contact with products, meaning it can be returned to the water cycle without further treatment. Anheuser-Busch InBev, brewer of beers including Stella Artois and Budweiser has also pledged to reduce its water usage as part of a new five-year environmental commitment. Click here keep up-to-date with the latest news from edie.net The company intends to improve water management in all of its key barley growing regions as well as engaging in watershed protection measures at its facilities located in areas such as Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and China. The brewer also aims to reduce its global water usage to 3.2 hectolitres of water per hectolitre of production, having last year achieved a reduction of 18.6% since 2009 to 3.5 hectolitres. Food supply McDonald's in supply chain transparency move as consumer concern grows In the wake of the horsemeat scandal earlier this year, McDonald's has invited members of the public to trace the journey of some of the products on its menu. Aware that consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about where Jason Patrick Ross / Shutterstock.com Radar 3/8 their food comes from, the fast-food chain has begun searching for members of the public to go behind the scenes to find out how products, such as the Big Mac and Fries, are made. The recruits will investigate and chronicle the supply chain journey from some of the 17,500 British and Irish farms that supply McDonald's through the food production process and on to restaurants. They will meet and interview farmers, food suppliers and McDonald's employees to find out the facts about what is in their chosen product and how it is made. McDonald's says it will publish the reports from the recruits later this year. McDonald's supply chain vice president