Bumble Bee realizes that our suppliers and the movement or our products through the supply chain are a key component of our overall sustainability program.
Our logistics groups strives to maximize truck and container loads, utilize inter-modal transportation where possible and partner with our customers for direct from plant deliveries, customer pickup and fixed day delivery schedules to minimize trucks on the road.
- In 2009, Bumble Bee shipped over 2,700 truckloads, almost 58 thousand tons of finished product via inter-modal. This choice to ship via inter-modal instead of by truck saved an estimated 900,000 gallons of diesel fuel and resulted in the avoidance of over 10,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents.
- Over 85% of the finished goods we ship in the United States travel on EPA Smartway Carriers.
- Our choice to utilize CHEP pallets in lieu of conventional wood pallets translated to an avoidance of 2.2 million pounds of waste and 1.2 million pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents in 2009.
Our choice of our seafood suppliers is critical to ensuring that we deliver sustainably sourced seafood to our consumers - our sustainable fisheries policy drives our procurement choices.
Also in 2009, to gain some insight into the sustainability activities of our suppliers, Bumble Bee initiated a dialogue with key suppliers regarding their efforts in environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility by sending out a basic questionnaire. Over time, we envision that these basic questions will be more formally integrated into our established Quality Assurance Audit process.
