Licious, a prominent meat and seafood brand in India, recently made a significant announcement regarding its commitment to plastic neutrality. In collaboration with sustainability partner Recykal, the company has successfully achieved plastic neutrality for FY2022. Through the recovery of 530 metric tonnes of plastic waste, Licious has effectively offset its plastic footprint for the year, demonstrating its dedication to responsible plastic waste management and sustainability.
In an engaging interview with TheCSRUniverse, Mr. Rajesh K, Chief Sustainability and Quality Officer at Licious, provides a comprehensive overview of the brand's sustainability mission, goals, ongoing initiatives, and their impact to date. He discusses the strategies implemented by Licious to minimize its environmental footprint and promote sustainable practices within the meat and seafood industry. Additionally, he sheds light on the company's efforts in addressing food waste through circularity and its collaboration with Recykal to achieve plastic neutrality.
Moreover, Mr. Rajesh K elaborates on Licious' engagement with local communities and stakeholders, highlighting the programs designed to empower farmers and support sustainable livelihoods. He also shares insights into the company's approach to packaging sustainability and its efforts in reducing plastic pollution. Lastly, he outlines Licious' future sustainability goals and aspirations, emphasizing the company's commitment to enhancing its environmental and social performance despite the challenges inherent in the meat and seafood industry.
Continue reading to delve into the full interview:
Q. Can you provide an overview of Licious' sustainability mission, goals, ongoing initiatives, and their impact so far? How does the company integrate sustainability into its core business operations and what progress has been made towards achieving its sustainability objectives?
As a brand we aim to build a sustainable and responsible food ecosystem that prioritizes well-being of the communities, future generations and the planet by minimizing environmental footprint, promoting ethical sourcing practices and supporting local communities. Our pledge of ‘Responsibly Licious’ goes beyond mandatory compliance requirements and sets new standards and benchmarks for the industry as we showcase how we do things the Licious way. We have been pioneers in implementing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards across our operations and our pledge towards being plastic waste neutral marks a milestone in our journey of being a responsible and sustainable brand.
Q. How does Licious plan to reduce its environmental footprint and promote sustainable practices in the meat and seafood industry? Can you share specific strategies, initiatives, and partnerships that contribute to these efforts?
Our focus will be on Quality, Sustainability, and Traceability, to achieve our vision of being ‘Responsibly Licious’. We aim to connect with people and resources to fortify the trust in the safe, responsible and ethically sourced meat, fish, and poultry that we process from healthy animals for ensuring healthy communities, and a sustainable planet. To offset our plastic footprint for FY 2022, we worked on recovering plastic waste from sensitive areas of India and processed this using approved recycling methods. Since our inception, we have been a purpose-driven organization disrupting the industry through global standards for quality, sourcing, processing, and technology. Our ESG pledge comprises 8 specific themes focused on quality, sustainability, and traceability, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
Q. Could you share some insights into the company's efforts to address food waste and promote circularity within its operations? Are there any initiatives or collaborations focused on reducing waste and maximizing resource efficiency?
We are committed to minimizing waste generation throughout our operations and have integrated waste management across our processing centres. Beyond extended producer responsibilities, we address Extended Producer Responsibilities namely saving water, reducing electricity and fossil fuel consumption (GHG reduction) and avoiding pollutants and landfill. Through the years we have been minimizing packaging waste by not only reducing the usage of plastic but also innovating appropriate substrates that are fit for recycling or repurposing. We do have IoT-based (Internet of Things) on time tracking for our cold chain throughout the food chain that enables us to minimize food wastage to almost negligible.
Q. How did Licious collaborate with Recykal to achieve plastic neutrality for FY2022? Can you share the strategies and actions taken to reduce plastic usage and offset the plastic footprint? Additionally, how does Licious ensure the proper disposal and recycling of this recovered plastic waste? Are there any partnerships or processes in place to ensure responsible and sustainable management of plastic waste?
On the occasion of World Environment Day, Licious announced it had achieved plastic neutrality for FY2022 in association with sustainability partner Recykal, a digital solutions company in circularity and sustainability. With Recykal’s Plastic Neutrality solution, the start-up successfully recovered 530 metric tonnes of plastic waste in the financial year 2021-22, offsetting its plastic footprint for the year. To offset its plastic footprint for FY 2022, plastic waste was recovered from sensitive areas of India and processed using approved recycling methods. Licious has committed to be plastic neutral going forward and we will continue to work with Recykal on finding feasible solutions towards making the planet a better and greener place.
Q. How does Licious integrate the #BeatPlasticPollution campaign into its sustainability efforts? Could you provide insights into the specific actions and awareness initiatives undertaken to address the issue of plastic pollution and engage customers in more sustainable packaging and consumption practices?
We have made strides in this direction by recovering plastic waste beyond our mandatory compliance requirements and achieving plastic neutrality for FY2022. We have achieved this in collaboration with our partner Recykal, a digital solutions company in circularity and sustainability. Through this alliance, we have successfully recovered 530 metric tonnes of plastic waste, offsetting our plastic footprint for the year. Through these efforts, we have prevented plastic waste equivalent to the weight of an Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger plane, from ending up in landfills. This remarkable achievement sets trends in the responsible management of plastic waste, highlighting our commitment to sustainability.
Through this initiative, we have so far generated around 1,49,154 kWh waste to energy, reduced 355 MT emissions of CO2e and saved 3,120 cubic meters of water and 4.94 lakh litres of oil.
Q. What measures has Licious implemented to engage with local communities and stakeholders, fostering positive social impact? Are there any programs or partnerships aimed at empowering farmers and supporting sustainable livelihoods?
At Licious, we strive to drive a positive impact on the planet and the communities we operate in. We are deeply engaged with communities of fishermen and farmers by eliminating the middlemen and transferring the benefit directly to them. Our community development program implementation has started with a need assessment study on thematic areas as - Health, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Education, Livelihood, Women Empowerment. Our work with communities also includes launching Employee Volunteering Day to devote one day towards working for charity. Also the bigger social impact that we make is making protein available to the larger population in a country like India which is faced with protein malnutrition. Our consumers are acutely aware of the interconnected nature of our global food system, the impact on our planet, the support for our communities and our ability to provide nourishment for people across the country.
Q. Can you elaborate on Licious' approach to packaging sustainability and reducing plastic pollution both within its own operations and throughout its supply chain? How does the company promote recyclability, explore alternative packaging materials, and drive behavioral changes toward more sustainable packaging and consumption practices?
We have been proactively addressing the plastic waste crisis and adopting responsible waste management practices. In parallel, we have optimized packaging design and solutions to reduce waste and minimize the use of unnecessary materials. We are also particular about our packaging partners and have collaborated with suppliers that offer innovative packaging solutions and offer sustainable materials in the packaging supply chain. We embrace circular economy principles in our approach to close the packaging loop by promoting recycling, reusing packaging materials, and encouraging responsible waste management practices.
Q. What are your future sustainability goals and aspirations? How does the company plan to further enhance its environmental and social performance in the coming years, considering the challenges posed by the meat and seafood industry?
While business growth is the cornerstone, sustainable progress is what we truly focus on. There are both short and long term plans addressing generic and industry specific concerns and working towards positive impact. Our ESG charter is in complete alignment with relevant SDGs and net zero ambitions of national and international standards. We are a purpose-driven organization that prides itself in being at the cutting edge of transformation of a largely ignored meat and fisheries’ industry that happens to be one of India's largest agrarian sectors as well. With low/no benchmarks around us, it is imperative that we constantly raise the bar for the industry. We will continue to improve employee safety, reduce workplace risks, and create better safer working conditions across the communities we work with and across the organization. We would always be pegged higher on safeguarding the interest of humankind we work with, we work for, while fostering responsible operations and processes and social accountability. The aim really is for us to create a positive and meaningful impact for all-out stakeholders.
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