icm sustainability

SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability is a key driver in our business. Our sustainability programme extends from the farm to to our processing facilities and beyond.

In conjunction with our wider group we are at the forefront of developments in relation to packaging. We are working closely with the Irish Government, research bodies and packaging experts to deliver on the very ambitious sustainability goals detailed hereunder.

Origin Green is Ireland’s food and drink sustainability programme.
It is a voluntary programme, led by Bord Bia that brings together our food industry – from farmers to food producers, retailers to foodservice operators – with the common goal of sustainable food production. This programme enables Ireland’s food industry to set and achieve measurable sustainability targets that respect the environment and serve local communities more effectively. Crucially, Origin Green is about measuring and improving how we do this on an ongoing basis.

Sustainable development and environmental responsibility are important aspects of our business approach – for our customers, our suppliers and also our future.
As a founding member of the Plastics Action Alliance, ICM plays its part in building a resilient and secure supply chain to ensure a positive and long term impact for our environment both locally and globally.
ICM Managing Director John Walsh is a board member of the Plastics Action Alliance.

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The sustainability of the environment, depends on pollinators (bees) and the important service they provide. Our pollinators are in decline. Of the 98 different types of bees on the island of Ireland, nearly one third are threatened with extinction.

The All–Ireland Pollinator Plan is a strategy to address this problem. It is a shared plan of action supported by more than 68 governmental and non-governmental organisations. By helping our pollinators, we are improving biodiversity across Ireland.

To develop our commitment to this Plan, ICM has installed Bee Houses & a ‘long flowering meadow’ on both our Camolin & Navan sites. The next step for our business is to work with our farmer suppliers to build our knowledge, so as to improve on-farm biodiversity and increase our sustainability.

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The European Water Stewardship is a framework for water users to understand their water uses, impacts and to work collaboratively and transparently for sustainable water management within a river basin context.

It achieves this by:

● Assessing and addressing water-related risks efficiently and pro-actively.
● Assessing water-related costs, identify and achieving cost savings
● Providing a practical tool to ensure an organisation complies with current and future legislation.

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Irish Country Meats became an audited and verified Palm oil free site in 2016.

BRC Food Certified

Irish Country Meats are a BRC approved processor. Since 2017 we are a BRC approved Allergen free site.

ICM have an active recycling plan in place which ensures that all cardboard, plastic, paper, metal and wood waste is segregated, separated and sent for recycling with our waste partner.

We also continue to be fully accredited members of Repak, Duales and Der Grüne Punkt .

EPA

ICM has operated under an EPA licence since 1992 and continues to run our operations without breaching any of the seven limits imposed by our government.
This process is validated by daily sample lab analysis and periodic unannounced audits.

ISO 14001 is an international standard for best practice across all industries for environmental performance.
This is an independently audited and accredited programme.

REDUCING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT

Through a combination of analysis and action most organisations can transform the way they interact with the environment by:

By moving towards a cleaner, greener way of working, an organisation can become a model of good citizenship, enhancing its public image in the process.

This in turn can lead to: