TORONTO – Bimbo Canada is proud to announce that it has won two 2023 Clean50 awards. The company won a national award for transitioning from plastic bread bag closures to compostable cardboard clips. We are also proud to announce that Jeff Robertson, Director, Environment and Sustainability, has been named a 2023 Clean50 Emerging Leader.
In April, Bimbo Canada became the first national bakery in North America to introduce compostable bread bag clips on all bread products including Dempster’s®, Villaggio®, POM®, Bon Matin®, Ben’s®, and Stonemill®. This small, yet impactful has reduced the company’s single-use plastic by approximately 200 metric tonnes annually.
“A staggering 26% of global emissions come from the food we eat. Bimbo Canada’s has committed that by 2025, 100% our packaging will support a circular economy by being reusable, recyclable, biodegradable, or compostable,” said Teresa Schoonings, Senior Director, Sustainability. “I am proud of the team at Bimbo Canada who led this initiative and extremely pleased that Jeff has been named a 2023 Clean50 Emerging Leader.”
Jeff Robertson, Bimbo Canada’s Director, Environment and Sustainability, has been named a 2023 Clean50 Emerging Leader and leads a small team in identifying and catalyzing sustainability projects in 16 plants across Canada. He was instrumental in leading the change to compostable and recyclable packaging clips.
“I am very honoured to be recognized with this award,” said Jeff Robertson. “At Bimbo Canada sustainability is central to our mission of Nourishing a Better World. This award is a testament to all the work that we are doing to run a company that understands and believes that we need to work in ways that support and sustain our environment and the communities that we live and work in.”
Together with leaders across the business, Jeff and his team have also led more than 70 completed projects across Canada and:
- Avoided 191,000 kg of food waste per year
- Prevented the annual use of:
- 112 million litres of water
- 425,000 m3 of natural gas
- 4.5 million kWh of electricity
- Diverted 2.65M units of product from landfill through donations to more than 120 food banks across Canada in 2021
- Converted to 100% LED lighting in all bakeries in Canada
- Achieved EnergyStar certification at four bakeries
- Removed 179M of plastic from packaging since 2019 and migrated 58% of all materials used in our packaging to certified sources
- Partnered with Bullfrog Power for all energy used to produce and distribute Oroweat Organic bread
Canada’s Clean50 Awards are announced annually by Delta Management Group and the Clean50 organization to recognize those 50 individuals or small teams, from 16 different categories, who have done the most to advance the cause of sustainability and clean capitalism in Canada over the past two years.
“Jeff Robertson was chosen after rigourous screening and research by Delta Management, with advice from internal researchers and external advisors, and was among Honourees selected from an initial pool of over 1,000 well qualified nominees,” said Gavin Pitchford, CEO, Delta Management Group.
For the complete list of the 2023 Clean50 winners please visit http://www.clean50.com/.
About Bimbo Canada
Bimbo Canada is Canada’s largest bakery, operating for more than 100 years. It is a leading producer and distributor of fresh packaged breads and snacks with more than 1,000 products across 18 brands Canadians know and love, like Dempster’s®, Stonemill®, Villaggio®, Vachon® and Takis®. We are proud to feed Canadian families with safe, high-quality products they can trust made by Canadians, for Canadians at 16 bakeries, 15 sales centres and 191 depots across the country.
Bimbo Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of Grupo Bimbo, the world’s largest baking company. Together, they are nourishing a better world with delicious baked goods and snacks by building a sustainable, highly productive and deeply humane company. The company is dedicated to building a diverse workplace that promotes equity and belonging, where all employees can develop and contribute to the transformation of the company, the baking industry and our communities.
For more, visit www.bimbocanada.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
About Delta Management Group / Canada’s Clean50
Leading ESG, sustainability and clean tech search firm Delta Management Group founded, and remains the steward of the Canada’s Clean50 awards, created in 2011 to annually identify, recognize and connect 50 sustainability leaders from every sector of Canadian endeavor, in order to facilitate understanding, collaboration and innovation in the fight to keep climate change impacts below 1.5 degrees C. Ancillary awards also recognize 20 Emerging Leaders and the 25 Top Sustainability Projects of the year, as well as bestow Lifetime Achievement designations.
