Our Social Responsibility

At George Weston Foods, we believe our role is to provide nutritious and affordable food, while also keeping our social responsibilities in mind.
Whether it’s reducing the amount of packaging and plastics in our products, or embedding inclusion and diversity within our businesses, we’re always looking for opportunities to improve our products and the environment we operate in.
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Some of our key achievements in summary

 

We released our first Gender Pay Report, showing the strong progress we are making in closing the Gender Pay Gap at GWF. We have completed our sixth roof-top solar energy project at our largest Tip Top Bakery in Australia, helping us get closer to our emissions reductions target.
We continue supporting community organisations where we can make the most difference to people in need, including our collaborative supply partnership with Foodbank in Australia.
In New Zealand Tip Top has joined Kai Commitment a voluntary agreement for leading food businesses to reduce food waste and related emissions and contribute to a more efficient, resilient and sustainable food system. Tip Top is also a signatory to the Australian Food Pact with End Food Waste Australia.
GWF through Tip Top’s new Gluten Free Bakery in New Zealand has moved away from natural gas to electricity which is largely generated from renewable sources in New Zealand, reducing our GHG emissions.

Our guiding principles

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Care for our people

Prioritising the health, safety and wellbeing of our team, and cultivating inclusive and diverse workplaces where everyone is respected, supported and empowered to fulfil their potential.

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Create and sustain value

For customers, consumers, and our own business through our high quality, healthy, nutritious, and affordable products, and through the relationships we forge with our supply chain.

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Be a good neighbour and corporate citizen

That means looking out for the communities and environments impacted by our business, acting with integrity and working to reduce our negative impacts every day.

Our Sustainability pillars

Paul Foster - CEO GWF
Quotation
A message from our CEO, Paul Foster

At GWF, our vision is to provide the best home for a growing family of safe, well-led businesses, delivering outstanding results and return for the long-term.

GWF is proud of our ongoing work in Sustainability and the progress we are making. However, we know there is more we can and must do to tackle ongoing issues including climate change, cost of living pressures, food waste, and recycling.”

Products

We’re committed to delivering value for customers, ensuring products are safe, consistent in quality and support good health.

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144 tonnes

of sugar removed from the food supply as a result of Tip Top Bakeries reducing sugar and artificial additives in their products

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87%

of Tip Top products have a Health Star Rating of 3.5, and we’ve committed to continue improving the nutrition of these products

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<1%

of food produced by Tip Top Bakeries is sent to landfill

Case study

Post-industrial recycled plastic in bread bags

Ploughmans Bakery (a GWF business) in New Zealand was the first and only bakery brand to introduce recycled plastic into its bread bags from May 2022. By using Post Industrial Recycled Plastic, Ploughmans Bakery has reduced its use of virgin plastic by 30%.

People

Workplace health and safety is a consistent area of focus for us. This means prioritising employee wellbeing,
including mental health.

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35%

of the top 130 positions are held by women (2022 Workplace Gender Equality Agency data)

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>900

employees have completed health assessments and strengthening programs with on-site physio support

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2 million

loaves of bread donated to Foodbank in Australia and KidsCan in New Zealand

Case study

Improved parent and carer benefits

We offer one paid day a week off for 12 weeks to help new parents manage the process of coming back to work. We also fund a ‘first aid for families’ course for new parents. The result? A post-parental leave retention rate of 92%.

Planet

As well as its environmental impact, we’re also aware of the material risk climate change poses to our
businesses and their supply chains, and are working hard to secure a healthy environment.

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35.6%

decrease in reportable greenhouse gas emissions since 2008/09

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17.6%

decrease in reportable energy consumption since 2008/09

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6

completed roof-top solar energy projects

Case study

Tip Top moving to renewable energy sources

We have completed our sixth roof-top solar energy project at our largest Tip Top Bakery in Australia, helping us get closer to our emissions reductions target. Tip Top aims to have 10% of its total electricity requirements be solar powered by 2025 and is working to purchase its remaining energy from renewable sources.

Safety
‘Safe’ is a core value having an equal voice in all business decisions. We’re committed to building a strong safety culture, where continuous improvement and the right behaviours are rewarded and where the people who do the work are involved to ensure we do it safely.
GWF is striving to move beyond the performance limitations of a ‘compliance’ culture to a more sustainable and high performance ‘commitment’ based safety culture driven by engaged people at all levels.
Following a safety incident in our DON business, we have had significant learnings which we shared at a seminar in 2021. If you’d like to hear more about our learnings, you can view the educational footage below.

Video 1 | Video 2 | Video 3 | Video 4 | Video 5 | Video 6

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Reports and statements

Click to download our latest reports and statements, which outline progress we’ve already made as well as our commitments for the future.

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2024 Sustainability
report

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2023 Sustainability
report

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Modern Slavery
Statement

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Responsibility
report

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Gender Pay
report

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Want to know more about our sustainability efforts?

Get in touch with us at sustainability@gwf.com.au