Guide to good environmental practices in the food industry

Nowadays, the rational use of natural resources and the preservation of the environment are becoming an important factor in competitiveness, especially in the food sector, where the main raw material is living resources, both animal and vegetable. It is essential that, as members of a food company, but also as citizens, we know and assume what our behaviour should be in the different moments of life (work, home, urban environment, natural environment…) in order to preserve an inhabitable and favourable environment for human beings.

The workplace is one of the places where people spend more time each day. In addition, in companies people have a much greater capacity to use resources and pollute the environment than we do at home.

For this reason, at AZTI we consider it essential to pay attention to the repercussions on the environment of the different professional tasks that make up the food activity and to what extent it is possible to collaborate in the conservation of the environment by avoiding negative impacts and inappropriate behaviour.

This guide has been prepared with the aim of training the management, technical staff and operators belonging to the food industry in the assimilation and implementation of Good Operational Practices aimed at caring for the environment, as a way of improving the competitiveness of the company by reducing production costs.

This guide searches:

• To encourage personal involvement and a change of attitude towards the main environmental problems.
• To develop environmentally friendly practices among employees in food companies.
• To provide concrete guidelines for the development of their professional work in a more respectful way with the environment and with the resources of the company.
• To promote pro-environmental attitudes towards the use of resources (care of material, installations, water, energy, etc.) and the generation of waste in the workplace.