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UK Soft Drinks
Responsibility Report 2nd edition March 2012
Recipes
Consumers can choose from a wide range
of drinks, including 100 per cent natural
drinks, functional drinks, and also diet
and low calorie options for those who
prefer them. Consumers respond to this
choice: for example, drinks without added
sugar now make up around 60 per cent
of the market, up from 30 per cent 20
years ago.
Portion sizes
Drinks are offered in a wide range of
pack sizes, so that consumers can choose
the ones that suit their needs. Multiserve
packs state on the label the number
of servings that each contains, and
nutritional information is included
per portion.
Quality
Every batch of product is rigorously
tested before it is released for sale. If
it is not good enough, it won’t be sold.
Consumers need to be assured that they
are buying safe, high quality drinks for
themselves and their families.
Samples of fruit juices on sale are
randomly selected and tested by an
independent laboratory to ensure that
the quality meets the high standards of
authenticity that consumers expect.
Achieving 5 a day
Fruit juices and high juice content
juice drinks can provide one of the fi ve
servings of fruit and vegetables that
everyone is recommended to consume
every day, and fruit smoothies can count
as two. Soft drinks companies provide
more than 6 billion servings of fruit juice
every year, an average of 100 per person
in this country.
Labelling
Soft drinks carry nutritional information,
including calorie content, in a clear
format on the front of the pack. The
GDA format enables consumers easily
to compare one product with another
and choose the one most suitable for
their diet.
Marketing and promotion
The soft drinks industry has adopted a
policy whereby it does not advertise soft
drinks containing added sugar to children;
a number of companies go further and
will not advertise products of any kind to
children. Companies that offer diet drinks
within their range are also devoting more
of their promotional expenditure to their
lower calorie drinks.
Acting responsibly is at the heart of being a successful business. While every business has to satisfy its consumers, of course, and also its investors or shareholders, it also has to take into account the concerns of the wider community. It has to act responsibly towards all those who might be affected by its actions.
This includes responsibility to:
• its consumers• its suppliers• its employees• the communities in
which it operates
Some of the steps that responsibility demands are visible to the outside world; others might only be seen within the business. But
they are nevertheless all important.
This UK Soft Drinks Responsibility Report describes some of the ways in which the soft drinks industry meets its obligations towards its consumers and the wider public.
The soft drinks industry provides a wide range of high quality, safe and refreshing drinks, with a range of ingredients, calorie contents and pack sizes – and full nutritional information about each of them – enabling consumers to make informed decisions about which drinks are suitable for themselves and their families.
Responsibility to our consumers
Pepsico has continued to focus
100 per cent of its Pepsi advertising
on no added sugar and natural
varieties; 66 per cent of total Pepsi
retail sales are in no added sugar
Max or Diet brands. Its fruit juice
brand Tropicana has been introduced
to a further 3,500 quick serve
restaurants and other outlets to
increase the availability of options
contributing towards 5 a day.
Rubicon has launched a no
added sugar variant, Rubicon Mango
Light, with all the taste of exotic
Alphonso mangoes but with 70 per
cent fewer calories and no added
sugar. Consumers wanted a lighter
alternative to Mango original, so
Rubicon created a low calorie option
without compromising on taste.
Britvic has extended its
portfolio with Fruit Shoot My 5
for children, a drink made up of
80 per cent juice and 20 per cent
spring water and counting as one
of their fi ve a day. The company
also launched its no added sugar/
low sugar carbonates range in a
600ml pack, priced the same as its
500ml full sugar range, offering
better value for money for those
consumers switching from full
sugar to diet.
Advertising
Soft drinks companies observe all
applicable codes relating to their
advertising and on their websites. This
includes the obligation to be consistent
with public health policy in emphasising
good dietary behaviour and an active
lifestyle as a means of promoting
health. Marketing communications
must not condone or encourage poor
nutritional habits or an unhealthy
lifestyle in children, nor may they advise
or ask children to ask their parents
to buy soft drinks for them: the use
of “pester power” is forbidden. Soft
drinks containing added sugar are
not advertised on children’s channels
or during programmes made for or
predominantly watched by children.
Drinks high in caffeine
BSDA and its European trade
association, UNESDA, have agreed codes
of practice regarding the promotion of
soft drinks with a high caffeine content,
often referred to as energy drinks. (Each
contains about as much as caffeine as
a cup of coffee.) The codes of practice
specify advisory labelling statements
about consumption by children, pregnant
women and persons sensitive to caffeine.
Furthermore, marketing and promotion
activities are aimed only at over-16s.
Manufacturing
State of the art lines for fi lling cans,
bottles and cartons and a scrupulous
attention to hygiene serve to minimise
waste, keep energy use low, and ensure
the highest health and safety standards
in the workplace.
Sourcing
The industry has established a system of
self-regulation whereby suppliers of fruit
juice are required to adhere to a code of
conduct covering their labour standards
and environmental performance. Regular
independent monitoring of suppliers all
around the world ensures that consumers
can enjoy fruit juice in the knowledge
that it has been produced in a fair and
environmentally sensitive manner.
Responsibility to our communitiesThe soft drinks industry seeks to provide rewarding careers for its employees and to play a positive role in the communities in which it does business.
Danone has set up Eat
Like A Champ (ELAC), an
education campaign to address
the issue of poor nutrition and
obesity among school children
in the UK. The six week
programme is designed to help
children in Key Stage 2 learn
about healthy eating in a fun,
exciting way. The ELAC school
lessons have been developed
in partnership with the
British Nutrition Foundation
and include themes such
as ‘Healthy Lunchboxes’,
‘Nutrients & Water’ and
‘Snack Swaps’. Together with
teachers, the ELAC resource
packs and lesson plans are
brought to life in schools by
Danone employee volunteers.
Over 3,000 children from
53 London primary schools
took part in 2011 and the
campaign was supported by
Diversity Dance Troupe, winners of
Britain’s Got Talent.
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola has
launched a three year partnership
with national charity StreetGames.
Its partnership is helping over
110,000 young people in
disadvantaged communities get
active and participate in sport.
Last year, StreetGames delivered a
programme of mass participation
festivals across the country – in
cities including London, Manchester,
Birmingham, Newcastle, Bristol and
Cardiff. Summer festivals alone will
reach over 3,000 young people
from some of Britain’s poorest
communities. The investment has
also helped create the fi rst ever
StreetGames Sport for Change
Training Academy, equipping 100
tutors to deliver 11 specifi c new
StreetGames training course to
around 600 coaches.
Employment
The soft drinks industry is a progressive
employer, and employs around 12,000
people. It is committed to offering
equal opportunities so that talent can
shine. Companies offer on-the-job and
off-site training and apprenticeships,
with the achievement of Investors in
People awards. The British Soft Drinks
Industry Foundation has been given
the mission of attracting science students
into the industry and supporting those
working in the industry through funding
apprenticeships.
Education
Many soft drinks companies support
educational activities in schools. For
example, BSDA’s own Liquids Mean Life
education pack has been used in more
than one third of schools, supplied to
them on request only. It mentions no
products and no brands, and is not used
for commercial promotion.
Encouraging physical activity
A key objective of the soft drinks
industry is to promote physical activity.
Soft drinks companies sponsor many
grassroots sporting activities, including
swimming, cycling and walking, and their
own staff, too, are encouraged to live
more active lifestyles.
The community
Soft drinks companies are active corporate
citizens in their communities. They
sponsor community groups and activities,
members of their staff are frequently
found as volunteers on community
projects, and they offer charitable
donations and donations in-kind.
Fighting litter
BSDA supports the Love Where You Live
campaign, a new campaign with the aim
of inspiring everyone to think about their
communities and take action to reduce litter
in the locations where they live, the places
they visit and the spaces that they use.
Britvic has launched an employee wellbeing programme ‘wellness@work’ which supports the principles of Change4Life
– eat less, move more, live longer. Since the launch new local initiatives have been set up by employees such as a beginners
running club, lunchtime pilates and walking clubs, and last summer Britvic ran an organised 10,000 step walking challenge with
employees across every site. Over 50 million steps in total were walked in a month, with one winning individual clocking up a
massive 965,057 steps – for which he won a brand new bike and intends to cycle to work every day.
A G Barr has achieved the
prestigious Investors in People
Bronze award in recognition
of the commitment made to its
staff across all of the company’s
UK sites. The recognition has
been awarded after all 11 of
its UK sites were assessed and
confi rmed as having achieved
and exceeded the standard.
Launched in 1991, Investors in
People (IIP) helps organisations
to improve performance and
realise their objectives through the
management and development of
their people.
Strathmore Spring Water is the offi cial water of
the Prince’s Trust and assists in its
many fundraising events each year.
The company’s partnership with
The Prince’s Trust entered its fourth
year in 2011/12; in which it makes
donations including funds raised
by its staff each year. The Prince’s
Trust has become the UK’s leading
youth charity, offering a range of
opportunities, including training
and personal development,
business start-up support, mentoring
and advice.
Shloer offers healthier
alternatives for lunches at meetings,
has installed showers and cycle racks
to encourage cycling into work, and
arranges corporate rates for its
employees at local gyms.
Feel Good Drinks gives its staff fi ve extra
days leave each year to do
volunteer work at causes
they care about. These
Feelgoodness Days have been
used to help clean up the River
Thames, collect litter from the
Regent’s Canal, and building
pathways through South
London’s woodland parks.
GlaxoSmithKline has
recruited fi ve local apprentices to
work at its Coleford manufacturing
site. The site is one of the
largest employers in the Forest
of Dean and the recruitment of
these apprentices is part of the
long term strategy to develop
Coleford’s position as a world
class manufacturing site, both in
terms of production and training
and developing a new generation
of British engineers.
Responsibility to the environment
Reducing transport
The soft drinks industry is working
towards the overall food and drink
industry objective to reduce the external
impacts of transport by 20 per cent by
the end of 2012 compared to 2002.
Initiatives include amalgamating delivery
routes to reduce journey distances,
changing the way vehicles are loaded in
order to fi t more bottles into each load,
training drivers in energy-effi cient driving
techniques, and adopting alternative fuel
and engine technologies.
Saving water
The soft drinks industry aims to reduce
its waste water volumes (i.e. water
not contained in the product) as part
of a food and drink industry target to
reduce water use by 20 per cent by
2020 compared to 2007. Factories
increasingly use compressed air rather
than water for rinsing the bottles
before fi lling, water meters are installed
to measure and highlight usage, and
rainwater is harvested as it can be used
for some purposes on site.
Saving energy
In line with the aims of the Climate
Change Act, it is the sector’s ambition
to achieve at least a 35 per cent
reduction in carbon dioxide emissions
from manufacturing by 2020 compared
to 2002 levels. Soft drinks companies
have been reducing their energy use
through more energy effi cient lighting
and using more natural light in factories,
increased monitoring of energy use to
identify ineffi ciencies, and exploring the
use of renewable energy. BSDA has also
published a list of Energy Effi ciency Top
Tips for dispense and vending machines
and chillers.
Reducing packaging
The soft drinks industry is pursuing
several initiatives to improve the
sustainability of its packaging. Many
soft drinks companies are signatories
of the Courtauld Commitment Phase 2,
which aims to reduce the weight, increase
recycling rates and increase the recycled
content of all grocery packaging, as
appropriate. Through these measures the
aim is to reduce the carbon impact of
this grocery packaging by 10 per cent.
Reducing waste
The soft drinks industry is progressively
reducing the quantity of waste from its
factories that ends up in landfi ll sites,
and aims to reduce that amount of
waste to zero by 2015. Ways to reduce
the quantity of landfi ll waste include
reducing the amount of material used
in packaging, reducing product waste
due to unsold stock in warehouses,
segregating waste to minimise cross-
contamination and increasing access to
recycle points.
The soft drinks industry is committed to reducing the environmental impact of its activities to conserve resources for future generations.
GlaxoSmithKline has installed a new bottle-blowing system at its
factory in Coleford, Gloucestershire. This new onsite facility has cut the
number of lorry journeys by 2,441 each year. The bottles themselves have
been redesigned to use 14 per cent less plastic, and the factory is powered by
an in-house Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system. The site is now able
to generate 5.5 megawatts of power, the same as 90 acres of wind turbines
working at full capacity. The waste heat given off during power generation is
captured and used to create steam, which is then sent to absorption chillers
to turn the steam to chilled clean water, used throughout the process of
making the drinks. Without this tri-generation process – power, steam and
chilled water – the factory would require a further 2 megawatt generator just
to produce enough chilled water.
Britvic has launched its new
Robinsons Double Concentrate to
reduce dramatically the amount
of packaging used in its soft
drinks. Producing the new 1.25
litre and 1.75 litre bottles of
Double Concentrate cuts over
14,000 tonnes of CO2 every
year – the equivalent of taking
3,300 family cars off UK roads
for a year. It reduces CO2e
(carbon dioxide equivalent) in
packaging by over 55 per cent
each year compared to the 2L,
3L and 4L Robinsons bottles it
replaces. The new packaging
format uses less than a third of
the materials usually required,
for every litre drunk.
Vimto Soft Drinks
has completed a major
lightweighting project for Vimto
cordials, which has reduced
PET usage by 17 per cent (145
tonnes per annum). At the
same time, the opportunity was
taken to incorporate 25 per cent
recycled PET (180 tonnes per
annum). A further benefi t has
been an increase in the number
of bottles carried per pallet,
which saves some 10,000 lorry
miles per year.
Encouraging recycling
The recycling of used packaging is
an important means of reducing its
environmental impact, closing the
so-called packaging loop. The amount
of plastic bottles recycled last year
increased by 7 per cent. Furthermore,
increasing amounts of recycled material
are now used in the original bottles – it
is common to fi nd bottles with 25 per
cent or 50 per cent recycled content. In
fact, demand for recycled PET plastic
exceeds supply, so soft drinks companies
are sponsoring campaigns to encourage
the public to recycle, including the
installation of facilities for collecting
bottles for recycling on-the-go.
Carton manufacturers have invested
heavily in the infrastructure needed to
recycle cartons, so that an increasing
number of local authorities have added
cartons to the materials that they collect
from households for recycling.
BSDA members support the Every Can
Counts campaign, a partnership that
aims to encourage greater recycling of
aluminium and steel cans, whether it be
at work, at college, at an event or festival
or whilst you are out and about.
Protecting water sources
Natural mineral water and spring water
only come from underground sources
that are protected from all pollution.
Each source is also managed sustainably:
water may only be abstracted from it
for bottling at a rate which ensures
that the level of water in the source is
not depleted. There are more than 70
sources of natural mineral water in the
UK, supplying around 1 billion litres of
water each year.
About BSDA
The British Soft Drinks Association is the national trade association representing the collective interests of the producers of soft drinks, including carbonated drinks, still and dilutable drinks, fruit juices and smoothies, and bottled waters.
The soft drinks industry provides over 14 billion litres of soft drinks each year (an average of 229 litres per person) with a retail value of more than £13 billion. It employs around 12,000 people, and its products are enjoyed in homes, in pubs and restaurants and on-the-go throughout the country.
Contact
British Soft Drinks Association 20-22 Bedford Row
LondonWC1R 4EB
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7405 0300Fax: +44 (0) 20 7831 6014
Email: [email protected]: www.britishsoftdrinks.com