We’re at the heart of food and service -- and our community -- as Sysco Gives Back Weeks continues! Our volunteers and their families helped Catholic Charities distribute 17,000 lbs. of food to 200+ families on Saturday. Our volunteers were also out in force with the Houston Food Bank’s Spring Branch and Katy Mobile Food Pantries, Blessings in a Backpack and Meals on Wheels, where we spent another worthwhile afternoon assembling breakfast packs for seniors citizens. Making a difference matters!
Today, on World NGO Day, I want to take a moment to offer my thanks to the many organizations with whom Mars works to achieve progress against our shared ambitions. Over the years, we’ve had the good fortune of collaborating with global nonprofits doing amazing work to shape change and implement programs in the communities our company’s footprint touches. Through these partnerships, we’re learning from each other and ultimately strengthening our impact through combined efforts.
Ecolab Inc. has again been recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. Ecolab has been named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies every year since the list’s inception in 2007.
At the heart of our recognition are The Five Principles, ideals we’ve outlined to help us grow our business in ways that are good for people and the planet. Meanwhile, our Sustainable in a Generation Plan, launched in 2017, outlines our plans to make the world better for the next generation. Through the Healthy Planet pillar, we’re working to reduce our environmental impact in a number of ways, including the elimination of problematic plastics and our goal of 100 percent recyclability by 2025. We want to make it as easy as possible for our products to be a part of a healthy lifestyle by Nourishing Wellbeing. Finally, we’re committed to building sustainable communities through our Thriving People pillar.
The intersection of Politics and Energy Policy is a busy one. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees on the traffic signals and, as a result, there’s a lot of gridlock. Even as scientists warn that world leaders are running out of time to take comprehensive action on climate change, some politicians are still debating the existence of the problem. Across the globe, the carbon-free-future campaigners are in a tug of war with the fossil-fuel advocates. Bold plans set in motion by one administration are postponed or cancelled by the next. In 2019, energy buyers must remain alert in tracking political developments, as well as traditional concerns about energy security, and trade policies and sanctions, for example, to understand the impact on energy markets.
Walmart today issued a bold new set of plastic waste reduction commitments by leveraging its massive private brand program. The new commitments, announced at Walmart’s annual supplier forum, are expected to impact over 30,000 SKUs. The move is designed to help get to the heart of the problem by focusing on the retailer’s private brand packaging, building upon existing efforts to reduce plastic waste in Walmart U.S. and Sam’s Club operations, and encouraging national brand suppliers to set similar packaging goals.
In cases of widespread foodborne illness, like last year’s E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce, the next step is to determine where along the food supply chain the contamination occurred. That’s where food traceability—the ability to trace a product through every step in the supply chain, from point of origin to final retail location—comes into play.