First version: June 2020
Latest revision: June 2020

PLB Food and Dairy Consultants – Sustainable Business Practice

PLB Food and Dairy Consultants AS is engaged in business concerning vegetable fats and oils for manufacture of food for human consumption. PLB’s activities include sales/logistics as well as technical and formulation consultancy (free of charge for PLB’s customers) mainly in the Caribbean region.

The raw materials’ life cycles, from sowing and growing oil-producing crops to the end-consumers’ use of vegetable fats and oils, puts its toll on our planet. Since our company is a part of this chain, we find it necessary to have a policy on issues of sustainability with regards to the field we operate within.

In this context, sustainability is conceptualised to include climate, deforestation, wildlife conservation, and other aspects of maintaining a healthy and viable natural world. This is further interwoven with issues of economy (e.g. inequality and poverty), gender issues, worker’s rights, human rights, local communities’ rights and so forth. Building our general policy on United Nations sustainable development goals, we refer to World Wildlife Fund for Nature and the Rainforest Fund for further information about sustainability issues related to vegetable oil crops and production.

PLB Food and Dairy Consultants’ aims and actions to promote sustainability

PLB Food and Dairy Consultants strive towards sustainable practices in our own company as well as promoting sustainability in our actions towards customers and suppliers. To this end, we have developed a list of actions which is revised annually, or more frequently if deemed necessary:

Actions for PLB as company

  • Draw on suppliers’ competence and capacities for enhancing own competencies in sustainability.
  • Maintain the level of travel to a minimum, only when deemed strictly necessary (e.g. by replacing internal physical meetings by video meetings).
  • When travelling, seek as sustainable transport options as practically possible.
  • When on travel, seek out sustainable options for other travel-related issues, e.g. in hotel choices.

Actions towards customers

  • Being well-informed about current sustainability issues related to vegetable fats and oils in particular, and manufacturing industry in general.
  • To the best of our ability, seek out and provide information and recommendations to customers for sustainable solutions such as in formulation and choice of raw materials, design and improvement of manufacturing practices, logistics solutions etc.
  • Reduce the need for long-distance travelling by offering customers the possibility of correspondence and support via digital platforms.
  • Set a good example by maintaining a sustainable practice in our own company throughout the company’s practices.

Actions towards supplier(s)

  • Establishing routine of discussing sustainability issues on a regular basis.
  • Sustainability status to be included as separate topic on the agenda in meetings between PLB and supplier(s) annually. Topics to be covered include:

  • Going over sustainability report and sustainability plan revisions.

  • Assess, discuss and advice the supplier regarding their policies and practice vs. international standards and expectations.

  • Seek strategies to promote sustainable practices at the customer level.

This way, PLB wishes to be a constructive partner with its customers and supplier(s), maintaining a productive dialogue to promote as sustainable practices as possible at all levels.

Oslo, June 2020

PLB Food and Dairy Consultants AS