UTZ is a global standard for sustainability which covers a range of raw food ingredients, some of which our Group supply. We’re delighted that AV Pound & Co Limited have joined with Carst & Walker South Africa and recently received their license to use this for our cocoa product in conjunction with both suppliers and customers.
The cosmetics industry has been no small contributor to this now widely publicized environmental catastrophe: tiny beads of polyethylene plastic have commonly been used for decades to act as gentle scrubbing agents to exfoliate in skincare products and these materials are simply washed straight into our wastewater systems.
For several years now, our teams in South Africa, Australia and the UK have been promoting biodegradable, technical alternatives to these plastics.
Launched originally in 2002 as Utz Kapeh (Good Coffee in the Mayan Language Quiche) with the goal of implementing large scale global sustainability, together with Solidaridad, both have enabled UTZ to become a global standard through financial support and field implementation.
With several name changes since its beginnings, UTZ merged forces with the Rainforest Alliance in 2017 and the first certification standard for the new Rainforest Alliance has been released this year.
The UTZ certification program is based on the Code of Conduct, which falls into four categories:
- Farm management
- Farming Practices
- Social and living conditions
- Environment
With increasing awareness of our environment and individual responsibility to maintain, as a minimum, or increase sustainability, we as a group strive to continually increase our green footprint across all our industry groups and products. Together with both suppliers and customers, we believe we make a difference.