Westfalia Fruit Group, a leading multinational supplier of avocados and a range of fresh vegetables and fruit, is advancing on its industry leading water strategy with plans in place to decrease use of this precious resource by 50% by 2030
Strategies have been developed for South Africa, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Portugal to reduce water use and improve water use efficiency. These are made up of specific best practice, measurement and technology-related interventions whose success and progress will be tracked using water-related key performance indicators (KPIs). Low flow initiatives have already helped Westfalia improve its water-use efficiency in 2020 and based on the success of this programme, the company is developing and implementing customised plans for its operations worldwide.
In a pioneering approach, under a new Global Water Plan, each Westfalia operation has submitted an eight-year strategy that outlines how it will decrease water use and improve water use efficiency. “Practically, this includes selecting the best-suited water-saving interventions that demonstrate good water-saving potential without compromising the productivity of the operation,” explained Maya da Silva, environment and sustainability specialist at Westfalia Fruit. “After this, operations will develop implementation roadmaps and timelines for the next eight years along with water-related key performance indicators to track progress and success,” she added.
These KPIs will be reported by regional water champions to Westfalia’s sustainability specialist every four months in January, May, and September. Westfalia’s Global Water Plan is part of the company’s long-term sustainability goals that include achieving carbon neutrality by 2030 and becoming ‘lifetime carbon neutral’ by the year of the centenary of the establishment of its first farm in South Africa in 2049. That will mean the company will have recovered all the carbon it has used in the lifetime of the business.
