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*Announced today at the British Soft Drinks Association (BSDA) Industry Lunch, the soft drinks industry’s sustainability strategy sets out a series of long term collective objectives developed to improve further the industry’s environmental performance. * The objectives focus on four areas: Climate change; waste and packaging; water; and transport (see below). The strategy outlines the industry’s position in each of these areas – its ambitions, the challenges and how the industry believes it can achieve its aims.

These areas of focus also reflect the objectives laid out in the government’s Food Industry Sustainability Strategy and align the BSDA closely with the targets set earlier in 2008 by the Food and Drink Federation.

Commenting on the launch of the strategy, Paul Moody, BSDA President and Chief Executive of Britvic plc, said: “This strategy represents a bold step forward by the soft drinks industry and will enable us to build on, and further improve our environmental performance. We believe that by working collectively as an industry, and with the support of national and local government, we can make a significant and positive impact on the environment.”

BSDA Director General Jill Ardagh commented: “Sustainability is top of BSDA’s agenda and the development of this strategy will play a vital role in ensuring that it remains central to all activity moving forward. The objectives set will present the industry with many challenges as well as new opportunities to innovate and adapt to the changing climate in which we now operate.”

BSDA members have agreed to the following collective industry objectives: Climate Change: In line with the aims of the Climate Change Bill, it is the sector’s ambition to achieve a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions from manufacturing by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.

Waste and packaging: It is the sector’s ambition to: send zero manufacturing waste to landfill from 2015 and contribute to WRAP’s objectives by aiming to improve the sustainability of soft drinks packaging.

Water: It is the sector’s ambition to reduce its waste water volumes (i.e. water not contained in the product) to contribute to a food and drink industry target to reduce water use by 20% by 2020 compared to 2007.

Transport: It is the sector’s ambition to contribute to the overall food and drink industry objective to reduce the external impacts of transport by 20% by 2012 compared to 2002 by: Integrating environmental efficiency techniques in the sector’s own transport operations and working with suppliers and customers to address supply chain impacts.