NBC champions Coca-Cola Hellenic Group’s global sustainability mandate in Nigeria
Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), the soft drink and water producer and partner to global non-alcoholic powerhouse, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Group, says it continues to champion the worldwide mandate of its group’s environmental sustainability programme in Nigeria.
Last year, Coca-Cola HBC was named by the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices as beverage industry leader for the third time in a row, which it’s Nigerian affiliate says represents the group’s commitment to upholding its leading position on sustainability matters in the beverage industry.
Sade Morgan, NBC’s director of Legal, Public Affairs and Communications said the company was contributing to meeting the group’s target of 40 percent reduction by 2020 in its environmental footprints, adding that this relates to water and carbon emission which is being done through the company’s water and energy consumption reduction initiatives.
She stressed that NBC was committed to environmental sustainability in Nigeria, and stated specifically, that the company has integrated sustainability and corporate responsibility into its operations.
“NBC is part of Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, and as a business, we have integrated sustainability and corporate responsibility into every part of our operation, building long-term shared value for our business and stakeholders,” Morgan said.
She said NBC was always developing new initiatives to drive sustainability in its operations and amongst employees, noting that the company recently launched ‘Water Pledge’, an internal campaign aimed at creating more awareness within its operations and designed to commit to a water minimization initiative in its plants.
As part of the push, a sustainability award has been instituted by the company to ensure day to day milestone efforts add up to sustained improvements and best practices in quality, safety and environment, demanding healthy competition amongst different NBC production locations.
With water being one key part of its sustainability efforts, Morgan said waste water is treated with a lot of care. “We ensure that all water returned to the natural environment is treated to the level that supports aquatic life. Our 11 bottling plants spread across Nigeria have on-site functional waste water treatment plants. Treated water released into the environment is suitable for use in agriculture as well as supporting plant and animal life,” she explained.
Working with its partners in Nigeria, Coca-Cola Nigeria, NBC said it is taking the lead along with other social enterprises in the collection and recovery of post-consumer packaging materials as part of their extended producer responsibility initiative, adding that employees have not been left out of these sustainability initiatives as they occasionally take part in volunteering initiatives such as tree planting and other clean up exercises, during work time.
NBC has operated in Nigeria since 1951, representing Coca-Cola in all that time and it says it is making huge investments to drive world class operations to better satisfy its customers and consumers while adding value to its stakeholders.