ICA has begun a pilot project, ICA Environmental Assessment, with nine selected Chinese suppliers and factories. The basic idea is to reduce the environmental impact of the production of ICA’s private label products and to obtain assurance that the suppliers are meeting ICA’s environmental requirements.

Measurement and assessment tools simplify environmental work

Better assessment tools allow the suppliers to create new measurement points and improve their environmental work in areas such as energy consumption, waste disposal and water use.

“We are now starting to follow up the environmental requirements that we have of suppliers to a greater extent. In the past, when we followed up on requirements such as acceptable working conditions, we saw clear improvements. We hope to see the same effects as regards environmental requirements,” says Maria Smith, Senior Manager Environment & Social Responsibility at ICA.

One systematic approach for everyone

Participants in the project include suppliers of very different types of products. Nonetheless, the same systematic environmental work has been introduced for everyone. This works because the production processes are often similar. The challenge lies in making this way of working a natural part of employees’ daily lives.

“Initially we are talking about simple measures, such as dealing with water leaks or changing lighting,” says Maria Smith. “These things might seem obvious, but they are easily overlooked.”

How we ensure continuous improvements by our suppliers

• all suppliers complete basic environmental training
• the training is followed up with a thorough environmental assessment on site to survey the current position and identify areas for improvement
• the suppliers then complete further practical, customised training in how to work on environmental issues in their factory
• a further assessment of the environmental work is then carried out in the factory to monitor the effects of the earlier changes and ensure that the improvement work has reduced their environmental impact
  
  

“During the assessment no critical non-compliances were identified at any of the suppliers. However, we could see that challenges exist in the areas of management systems, equipment maintenance and environmental training for employees,” says Maria Smith.

Facts
In order to be a supplier to ICA the company must work actively on its own internal environmental work, including an environmental policy, environmental targets and plans to reduce environmental impact from production and other activities. Suppliers must regularly monitor the environmental impact of their operations. ICA ensures its requirements are met through agreements, follow-up and by requiring established systems of environmental certification.