Waste and Recycling in the CAC 40 analysis

The purpose of this project was to research the Waste Generated by compagnies of the CAC 40 and evaluate they actions towards being more sustainable and see if as well as being economical leader, they were leaders in the cause for environment.

Pollution and environment being a worldwide current issue, I found it interesting to evaluate exactly how the companies we know and buy from are facing this issue.

I therefor started collecting data and researching information about three different companies. Danone a French multinational food corporation, Carrefour a French multinational retailer and Pernod Ricard a French company that produces distilles beverages. These three company involved in the food and beverages, I found it interesting to see how they were facing risk as a part of this waste is consumable food.

From the data that I have collected, I can affirm that the general trend is for the compagnies to be involved in the waste management. They have all planned and started finding ways of reducing their general waste over the years. For instance, Danone is currently recycling 90% percent of their waste generated in packaging. As well as Carrefour that reduced its general food waste by50% by 2025.

The positive point we can pull from the observation the companies actions are that in each cases each company is trying to improve their waste impact by reducing the general amount that they are creating. They are all planning to continue these reductions to in the future either recycle 100% of their waste and reuse it or manage to create zero product waste by not over producing. The notion we must also into account is the fact that these multination companies are either producers or resellers of perishable goods (food and drinks) where waste is waste and can not be recycled. If these companies manage to implement their actions correctly they will on one hand reduce their environmental impact but also contribute into the fight against hunger.

On the negative side, after researching the metric I needed to answer my project which was “Waste and Recycle in the CAC 40” I realised that these were very hard to find. I was expecting more transparency from the economical leaders and pioneers. Whilst completing my research, I would find their plan about their future improvement and the positive actions they have started implementing in their companies but these were never quantified in a mesurable way. For instance Carrefour had recycled 71.6% of their waste generated but the initial quantity in Tones was no were to be found and the same happenned for Sodexo. I believe that these informations should be more accessible to the general public as it has a direct impact on the environment but also could change the way people react towards these brands.

These compagnies are therefor acting in a eco responsible way as they are all trying to improve they waste and recycling impact. Their actions are also very important as these all represent more than 50% decrease in waste created and more than 70% in the waste recycled. These changes will impact the environment in a positive way as well as show the way and example to other compagnies in the future. But they should also be more transparent toward the divulgation of their information. These compagnies have a tendency of only showing the positive aspects of their brands but not divulging the rest.