Matthew Clark is proud to be supporting The Footprint Drinks Sustainability Awards, a barometer for sustainability and responsible business practice for the drinks industry in the On-Trade.
The soft drinks industry has been in the public spotlight of late with its impacts highlighted in both the sugar and plastic debates. The alcoholic drinks sector has, to date, remained under the sustainability radar, but this is about to change.
Few industries rely on raw materials, water, energy and packaging as much as those involved in the production of alcohol and soft drinks. Carbon outputs through manufacturing processes and distribution, not to mention the waste implications, are evidence of a global industry with a huge collective responsibility that is arguably more beholden to climate and environmental conditions than many others. Add to that the social sustainability agenda; the impact the drinks industry has on its constituents’ health, with the effects of excess alcohol and sugar consumption taking increasing chunks out of the NHS budget, along with other social aspects such as the living wage, gender, diversity and worker welfare.
Individual brands and supply chains have a significant duty to work towards minimising impacts. There is much activity in certain quarters to mitigate these impacts but, as yet, there does not appear to be a cohesive sustainability narrative across the drinks industry and its supply chain with no platform to bring the whole responsible business agenda together.
Meanwhile, the consumer is increasingly well informed and, to the influential millennials particularly, business reputations can rise and fall over an approach to sustainable practice. What even five years ago was considered as foresighted innovation is today regarded as the bare minimum and it is no surprise that it is the most successful businesses that have embraced the concept, changed behaviour, and are now leading the way towards a more sustainable and responsible industry.
The Footprint Drinks Sustainability Awards will provide this platform, representing the annual celebration of the work that organisations in the drinks industry and its supply chains are doing to in some way redress the balance for the benefit of themselves, their consumers and the industry at large. It is a celebration of initiative and innovation, of commercial imagination and endeavour, that recognises those organisations leading the way.
These awards are open to drinks businesses of all sizes operating in the hospitality and out of home arena: brand, manufacturer, supply chain, distributor or operator. Entries are judged by a panel of specialists in sustainability, the drinks industry and hospitality, so if you are an organisation that is proud of an initiative or achievement in this field we would urge you to enter.
The Footprint Drinks Sustainability Awards is open for entries January 14th 2019. The inaugural Awards Dinner will be held in September 2019. You can enter now by visiting the Footprint Drinks website.Â
