23 September 2021
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
ABP have a large meat processing plant at Kilbrogan, on the Northside of Bandon town, on the road from Bandon to Brinny
ABP has become the first Irish-owned company to achieve the International Water Stewardship Standard Version V2.0, Platinum Level certification. The leading international sustainability standard was awarded by the Alliance for Water Stewardship to the company in recognition of the innovative water stewardship programme at the company’s plant in Bandon, Co Cork.
Simon Callanan, Environmental and Sustainability Officer at ABP Bandon with Amanda Nugent from ABP Cahir, displaying the company’s platinum certification from the Alliance for Water Stewardship
Pic Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision
ABP Bandon’s water conservation strategy has reduced water consumption at the plant by 145 million litres over the past 12 years – enough water to supply every second house in the town of Bandon with fresh water for a year.
The platinum certification is the highest recognition awarded by the Alliance for Water Stewardship and recognises sites that push their water stewardship performance to an elite level. The certification was awarded following a comprehensive audit process of ABP Bandon’s water stewardship programme.
ABP is committed to sustainable water management by continually finding ways to reduce water usage while also ensuring the correct treatment of processed water and wastewater. Through its water stewardship programme at Bandon, ABP has sought to understand its water use and impacts and to work collaboratively with other groups to achieve larger sustainable water management goals, at both a site level and catchment area level.
Simon Callanan, Environmental and Sustainability Officer at ABP, said: “ABP is incredibly proud to have achieved platinum level certification from the Alliance for Water Stewardship. The awarding of this highest level of accreditation from the leading international body specialising in water stewardship validates the hard work that ABP has undertaken to improve its performance in this area continuously. We would like to thank all of our colleagues who have contributed to our work in the area of water stewardship across our sites. Sustainability is a core principle on which our company operates, and we will continue to strive to build upon our performance in this area.”
The Alliance for Water Stewardship Standard is an internationally recognised certification that provides water stewards with a five-step continual improvement framework that enables sites to commit to, understand, plan, implement, evaluate and communicate water stewardship actions.
