Processors must do eco-friendly or die

Food and drink processors must adapt to more environmentally friendly practices or die, according to Jonathon Porritt, programme director of sustainable development charity Forum for The Future.

Porritt, who is also chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, said processors would have to respond to increasing pressure from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the next five years.

“Five years on there will be an NGO league table for carbon-intensive brands,” he predicted. “They [NGOs] will become the interpreters of carbon emissions production.” He was speaking at the British Fruit Juice Association’s annual symposium in London.

While the idea of personal carbon allowances and personal carbon trading seemed far-fetched now, they could well become a reality within a few years, he said. He added that some food and drink businesses, such as Innocent Drinks, were already trying to work out how much of an individual’s likely daily carbon allowance went into making one of its products.

The food industry could find itself having to communicate the proportion of an individual’s total carbon allowance that went into one of its products, said Porritt. “We will have a global carbon trading system in place within five years - so suddenly personal carbon trading makes sense.”

He said juice and smoothie makers could face a switch in emphasis from the chilled to the ambient aisle as retailers selected more environmentally friendly products on the consumer’s behalf. “Ambient is less carbon-intensive than chilled. The retailer is likely to give less space to chilled products and more to ambient.”

He also launched a scathing critique of packaging firms that were slow to make their packaging fully recyclable. “The principle of extended product stewardship should apply here. If you put a product out into the environment that is not capable of being wholly recyclable you should bear the responsibility and the cost.”

However, Porritt said the drinks industry was at the forefront of the environmental debate because it was among the first sectors to have to wrestle with issues such as waste and recycling. “If this industry plays its cards right, it stands to be a huge net beneficiary in a rapidly changing world. Theoretically, you are better placed to weather some of the storms that are coming down the track at us.”