Keep your supply chain ethical and agile: Ecotone’s take in an ever-changing world

There are many buzzwords around sustainability and ethics in the current climate, with many businesses laying claim to bold initiatives and targets.

In practice, it can be easy to claim you have an ethical supply chain. But with so many moving parts, the businesses who are unafraid of shining a light on theirs are usually the businesses you can trust.

There have been immense pressures put onto the supply chain in recent years. From increasing environmental challenges impacting crops, financial strain driving up costs, and global exports from countries put on pause - we have all needed to adapt. Despite external volatility, for Ecotone, our focus remained on sustainability as the DNA of our business.

After all, an ethical supply chain is all about transparency and accountability. And the environment is symbiotic: when you do right by it, it will do right by you.

This is why we take an open approach through our supply chain at Ecotone, as Europe’s leading company in organic, Fairtrade, and plant-based foods. Here’s how we ensure ours remains sustainable, diverse, and agile, across nine Ecotone factories and 230 third party manufacturers which are all managed by our Supply Chain Team.

As always, this is ever guided by our mission to protect and grow biodiversity.

Progressing sustainability

Implementing policies such as conserving resources and reducing waste, alongside investments in new packaging initiatives, are vital in minimising your environmental impact at every stage of the supply chain.

It’s also about a fine-tuned structure and foresight across procurement strategies. For Ecotone, we focus on what is happening around the world and build resourcing and mitigation around it. We can’t always anticipate trouble ahead, but we have built resilience across our business with an agile plan.

Mitigating issues well in advance - such as ensuring we can source raw materials from more than one country - helps us strengthen the supply chain, which in turn ensures it remains sustainable.

Driving change with diverse diets

It’s also about being circular. We need to introduce people to multi diets filled with alternative ingredients and shift away from mono diets if we are to save our food system. A key part of this involves collaborating with our suppliers to explore diverse crops.

This is important for our innovations as a company - ensuring we expand our network of supply partners to develop new approaches and alternatives.

Remaining agile

The supply chain is a byproduct of doing right by the planet, and this is anchored to agility, one of our core values at Ecotone.

You can make the biggest difference by working with like-minded suppliers, but by also working together to encourage them to reconsider their sustainability efforts. We work with our suppliers and actively ask them what their top priorities are so we can focus on driving discussion and action.

Our supply chain is about delivering quality products to a high ethical standard at every level. Ultimately though, it’s about the people who make your supply chain. It’s not a faceless machine in food production – protecting and safeguarding people will always be my priority and personal passion. 

For us to get the best out of people and our planet, Ecotone’s pillars of success will always be our planning, people and our values. This is how we can keep making positive contributions to the world, while transforming our food industry from the inside out.