Nestlé's Wyeth Nutrition facility in Askeaton, Co Limerick, is the first factory in Ireland – and Nestlé's first food manufacturing factory in Europe – to achieve standard platinum certification from the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) .
The standard is awarded after independent assessment; where it has been proven responsible water policies and initiatives are in place, leading to water preservation and reduction throughout a plant.
Wyeth Nutritional Ireland employs 600 people supplying infant nutrition products to a global market at the manufacturing unit. The AWS standard is the global metric for measuring responsible water stewardship across social, cultural, environmental and economic criteria, with the platinum rating being the highest level of certification.
Sustainability
Factory manager Antonio Prochilo said they placed significant focus on improving water sustainability on the site. "Fresh, clean water is essential for our production here and to ensure the highest quality product. Our journey to safeguard and improve our water usage involved extensive engagement with stakeholders in our immediate water catchment area, and across Ireland," he added.
This has led to it using a third less water compared to 2013, he confirmed. “It also resulted in our own staff’s increased understanding of the value of water, to the extent where they have taken the same principles ... into their own homes and are spreading the word on the need to conserve such an important resource”.
Greenhouse gas
As water scarcity is one of the most pressing sustainability issues throughout the world and features in UN Sustainable Development Goal 6, Nestlé has reduced its "direct water withdrawals" globally by 31 per cent, with a 37 per cent reduction in the nutrition and healthcare category. On the wider issue of sustainability, earlier this month it set out a detailed and time-bound plan to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and to achieve "net-zero" emissions by 2050.
