WoolWorths holdings limited 2013 good BUsiness JoUrneY report

Environment
CASE STUDY: UTZ CERTIFIED COCOA
In October 2012, Woolworths launched
a new boxed chocolate range for
which 25% UTZ Certified cocoa was
sourced, as a first step on a journey
that will see all Woolworths chocolates
being made with certified sustainable
cocoa by 2016. We started with 25%
because there simply isn’t enough
UTZ Certified cocoa available to
meet our demand. We have since
managed to increase to sourcing
50% UTZ Certified for this range.
Our progress is tracked on our UTZ
Cocoa Barometer which can be found
on our website: www.woolworths.
co.za/goodbusinessjourney
UTZ Certified is one of the world’s
leading sustainability programmes
for coffee, cocoa and tea. It’s a
comprehensive programme that
helps the farmers learn to improve
the quality and yield of their cocoa
while reducing their impact on
the environment and enabling
them to take better care of their
workers and families. Farmers
also learn business skills, and their
operational management is audited
by independent third parties. This
ensures that if a raw material is
UTZ Certified, you have the assurance
that it has been grown and harvested
responsibly.
Another critical factor for Woolworths
is that the UTZ Certified Codes of
Conduct include explicit requirements
that prohibit child labour based on
International Labour Organisation
(ILO) conventions.
Even though Woolworths is a small
player in terms of the global market,
we are still committed to working
with the industry, independent
organisations, international agencies
and others to encourage sustainable
practices in the cocoa industry. We
want to help producers become more
sustainable, improve the management
of labour, protect the environment and
ensure the commercial viability of
their organisations.
ANIMAL WELFARE
As retailers, we believe, it is our ethical
obligation to ensure that our suppliers
treat the animals in our supply chain in the
most humane way possible.
We believe animals should have lives
worth living. From birth to death, they
should enjoy the five freedoms:
1. Freedom from hunger and thirst,
2. Freedom from discomfort,
3. Freedom from pain, injury or disease,
4. Freedom to express normal behaviour,
5. Freedom from fear and distress.
We are committed to continuous
improvement in all aspects of animal
health and welfare including livestock
management and husbandry, housing,
animal feed, farm hygiene, environment,
transport, slaughter and disposal of
animals regarded as “by-products”.
These aspects will be addressed in
detail in our various species-specific
Codes of Practice.
We will ensure that the animals used in
the production of all our foods will be
produced to our specifications by known
suppliers, and that we will be able to
trace the food back to the farms from
where it was sourced.
To ensure that high animal welfare
standards are maintained and
continuously improved, our trained
animal welfare specialists will at least
annually visit and inspect all our South
African abattoirs and processing plants
and check that they and their supplying
farms comply fully with our product
specifications and animal welfare Codes
of Practice. We will also periodically visit
and inspect our foreign abattoirs.
We do not permit:
• Animal testing – we have never asked
or commissioned our private label health
and beauty suppliers to conduct testing
on animals. Our animal welfare policy
requires that suppliers did not use any
raw materials tested on animals after
1 January 2001. Woolworths’ entire
private label range of toiletries and
cosmetics have not been tested on
animals and have been approved by
Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC).
• Products made from real fur.
• Selling of eggs from caged birds.
• Our health and beauty suppliers of our
private label to use ingredients that are
by- products of the food industry.
• The use of duck feather and down that
is not a by-product of the food industry
in homeware.
• Woolworths is committed to addressing
the issue of mulesing of wool-producing
Merino sheep. Mulesing is the surgical
removal of strips of wool-bearing
wrinkle skin from around the breech of
a sheep. Mulesing is a common practice
in Australia as a way to reduce the
incidence of flystrike on Merino sheep.
Although mulesing is not practised in
South Africa, Woolworths will continue
to monitor local South African suppliers to
ensure that they conform to the position
statement mandated by Cape Wools SA.
WHL 72 / 2013 GOOD BUSINESS JOURNEY