Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 23 January 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Roles, Responsibilities and Key Programmes of Bord Bia: Discussion

3:30 pm

Mr. Michael Maloney:

No, EPA licensing is separate from Origin Green. Companies are required to meet the requirements attached to their licences. That is one part of what they are required to do and it is a legal requirement. What we are talking about in Origin Green is setting targets in areas such as raw material sourcing. If we take some of the dairy co-ops, for example, one of their targets is that all of their suppliers be in the dairy sustainability assurance scheme. Two years ago they had no supplier in that scheme, but by the end of this year 100% of their suppliers will be in it. In the manufacturing sector they will be looking at reducing energy levels, recycling water and reducing waste.