The Sustainability Initiative of South Africa highlights impressive progress in environmental stewardship, with 72 percent of audits being periodic reviews and suppliers successfully closing 74 per cent of findings through corrective actions
As South Africa approaches the end of the citrus season, the Sustainability Initiative of South Africa (SIZA) has said it is impressed by the actions taken by growers to promote sustainability.
“It is remarkable to see how well citrus suppliers are performing in compliance,” said Retha Louw, chief executive officer of SIZA.
“Audit results as of 1 April show a dramatic increase of 55 per cent in the number of environmental audits conducted nationwide compared to last year.
”Even more impressive, 72 per cent were periodic audits, meaning many suppliers have already undergone their second or third environmental review,” she noted.
“This reflects a strong commitment to ongoing improvement and sustainability.
”Suppliers have successfully closed and finalised 647 out of 880 findings (74 per cent) through SIZA’s continuous improvement corrective actions programme,” Louw continued.
”These efforts highlight an incredible drive for continuous improvement and environmental stewardship.”
One of the most common findings, SIZA said, relates to inadequate carbon footprints – or no carbon footprints at all.
“Suppliers have done a fantastic job gathering their annual data more effectively,” she outlined.
”They utilise the SIZATrack360 programme to provide it to an accredited third-party greenhouse gas emissions specialist to calculate a formal carbon footprint.”
The programme allowed for production output to be measured monthly in a standardised format, to make the calculation process easier and smoother by having it calculated by a recognised third party via the MySIZA platform.
Similarly, suppliers use SIZATrack360 to show evidence of reduced waste intensity overall, measured per produced commodity.
This allows suppliers to obtain an overall view of their waste practices.
Suppliers also submitted evidence of recycling practices, which include farmers gaining value from organic waste through composting to improve soil, with some funding farm community projects by selling recycled glass, metal, and oil.
“These efforts align with circular economy principles to regenerate resources and reduce waste,” said Louw.
In terms of management systems, corrective action showcases businesses’ increasing focus and awareness of compliance with legal requirements regarding the effective removal and management of alien invasive species.
SIZA said risk assessments as part of improvements are more comprehensive and cover all aspects of the environmental impacts of energy, materials, and waste.
Businesses are further improving awareness of environmental compliance through showcasing evidence that the environmental management policy is communicated to staff, contractors, and external stakeholders.
