For a second year, Glanbia Ireland has obtained Origin Green Gold Membership status for excellence in sustainability

At an event hosted by Bord Bia recently, Glanbia Ireland obtained Origin Green Gold Membership status for the second year in a row in recognition of its excellence in sustainability. The awarding of the Origin Green Gold Standard recognises Glanbia Ireland’s efforts to excel in sustainable food production as part of Ireland’s pioneering food and drink sustainability programme.

Pictured recently upon receipt of Glanbia Ireland’s Origin Green Gold Standard are (from L-R) Aoife Murphy, Director of Ingredients, John Murphy, Glanbia Ireland Chairman, Jim Bergin, CEO, and Audrey O’Shea, Head of Environmental & Sustainable Compliance

GI was just one out of 26 of Ireland’s leading food businesses to receive the inaugural Gold Status Membership last year and is among a group of 50 to achieve gold standard status for 2021. Glanbia Ireland was strongly commended again this year for its community-wide, green initiatives such as Operation Biodiversity, Operation WildNation and Operation PolliNation which are championed by Glanbia CountryLife’s horticulturists and teams at our 14 award-winning garden centres and local branches.

Together they helped drive the planting of over 80,000 native Irish trees and hedgerows over the past year as well as the introduction of flowering perennials into gardens, wild bird conservation and other biodiversity measures through a strong educational role in communities through outreach to schools.

Origin Green holds the unique position of being the only sustainability programme globally to measure and monitor sustainability across the entire national food supply chain. Glanbia Ireland CEO, Jim Bergin, said Gold membership recognises the trojan work that is carried out by the company, by farm families, milk and grain suppliers and its research partners in this area on a daily basis. “In 2015 Glanbia Ingredients Ireland, as it was then known, became the first company to win the Origin Green Sustainability Award and now again in 2021, as Glanbia Ireland, we have achieved Gold status for the second year in a row.

“It is a great honour to be made a Gold Member, reflecting all of the hard work and achievements that our teams have been making across our entire business. Gold Membership rewards and recognises our commitment to sustainability as outlined in our Living Proof sustainability strategy and our commitments on raw material sourcing and packaging, emissions, waste reduction, water efficiency, health and nutrition.”

Speaking at the event, Tara McCarthy CEO of Bord Bia, said: “Bord Bia is delighted to share the important results and industry leading achievements outlined in the Origin Green Progress Update Report 2021, as proof and progress continue to be trademarks of our world-class, national sustainability programme. This evidence of environmental improvements compiled from our members and verified by international auditors Mabbett, highlights that the programme’s vast scale across the Irish food and drink industry are what makes Origin Green unique and effective.”