Westland Milk Products’ suppliers have helped the company move up global independent rankings for corporate social responsibility.

Westland General Manager Environment and Milk Supply Mark Lockington said the involvement of Westland suppliers in signing on to the company’s new Code of Conduct was one of the major factors behind the company being awarded a Gold ranking for its sustainability credentials.

In July, Westland was advised it was now amongst the top 5% of global companies ranked by sustainability auditors EcoVadis and had been given the Gold Award.

The EcoVadis Gold Award demonstrates Westland is actively promoting responsible environmental practices, employee engagement, and ethical codes of conduct.

“The new policies and procedures put in place with our supply chain, such as our Code of Conduct, were singled out by EcoVadis as a factor in our improved ranking,’’ Mr Lockington said.

“We’re really grateful for the response from our suppliers in signing up to the Code and the care and time they took to participate.

“The award levels continue to evolve in line with market expectations so we will need to continue to invest and improve in order to maintain our Gold status.’’

Westland’s Code of Conduct sets out the company’s approach to ethical business conduct; health, safety, and wellbeing; environment; labour and human rights and compliance with law.

As corporate social responsibility continues to increase in importance globally, Westland CEO Richard Wyeth said the Gold award reduces the compliance expectations of new customers.

“Being able to demonstrate our social responsibility credentials is vital in global business and this ranking supports the work done not only across our team, but across our whole supply chain,’’ Mr Wyeth said.

“It shows we mean business when it comes to operating to the highest ethical standards and can demonstrate our commitment to corporate social responsibility, trust and integrity.’’

Westland first joined the EcoVadis ranking system in 2018 as a supply chain requirement of some major international customers and has ranked at Silver for the past five years.

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