Cormac Nolan, Strategic Insight and Planning, Bord Bia – The Irish Food Board
How can sustainability and efforts of dairy companies best be communicated to consumers? That was one of the relevant and applicable discussions for Irish dairy companies at the Global Dairy Congress 2019 which took place in Lisbon.
Tanja Virtanen-Leppä, head of packaging development for Valio, Finland, spoke about that companies commitment to creating carbon-neutral milk by 2035.
One of her key insights is about the difference between what has an impact on the carbon weight of Valio’s production, and what consumers perceive as progress.
Over 90% of the carbon impact of dairy product is on the raw milk before it arrives at the production facility. Valio’s efforts here have been focussed on reduction of on farm emissions and in reduction of food waste, ultimately aiming that less product needs to be made.
Part of this is providing multipacks of small serving sizes that suit modern consumption habits. Consumers however have been resistent or even dismissive of these formats as wasteful. Packaging constitutes a far lighter weight of environmental impact than food waste. So using more packaging to provide a format that reduces food waste is more environmentally sound. But for consumers picking up product from the shelf, they did not immediately perceive that.
By partnering with a credible third party - in Valio’s case the Black Sea Action Group - in its sustainability planning, the company overcame the skepticism of increasingly time-poor consumers.
Implications for Irish dairy companies;
- Communicating in a clear and consistent manner with your consumers is a prerequisite for success in sustainability
- Consumers are sceptical and time-poor, credible third party verification a core part of success.
- Sustainability is complex and sometimes counterintuitive to consumer expectations - the relative weight of packaging v food waste for example.
Origin Green is Ireland’s food and drink sustainability programme. It is a programme open to farmers, food producers, food service companies and retailers allowing them to measure and make progress on sustainability goals. Further details can be found on the Origin Green website here.