BioMar Group

Sustainability strategy

BioMar Group’s sustainability report demonstrates time-bound objectives, targets and timelines through KPIs linked to three key areas – health and quality, environment, and society – with progress shown annually in relation to its 2014 base levels. Unlike many of its benchmark peers, the company set forward-looking objectives which address both environmental and social sustainability factors. It also explicitly links its KPIs to specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Waste reduction

One of BioMar Groupès environmental KPIs is to assess waste generated from its world-wide manufacturing, both primary waste from production and secondary waste from packaging and maintenance, and create a reduction programme to ultimately reuse, recycle and recover its plastic packaging. Under this KPI, the company set a more specific target to reuse, recycle and recover 100 percent of its packaging by 2020. BioMar Group reports that it achieved more than 99 percent in 2018 and provides specific evidence from Ecuador where the company purchased back used feed bags from its shrimp customers to transform them into recycled plastic. These efforts are a part of the company’s quality management system, as well as covered in the ISO 14001 ‘environmental management systems’ standard to which BioMar Group complies.

Traceability

BioMar Group has a Supplier Approval, Audit and Traceability (SAAT) team that is responsible for ensuring the traceability of its raw materials. The company’s sourcing policy states that suppliers of both marine and terrestrial ingredients are approved and audited according to internal risk assessment procedures. Its suppliers are required to provide details on the species inclusion level and catching area for each delivery of fishmeal and fish oil to BioMar Group. In BioMar Group’s sustainability report, the company states that it keeps track of the proportion of marine raw material deliveries originating from fisheries approved by the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Committee on Compliance (FAO CoC), for example those following the Marine Ingredients Organisation’s Responsible Supply Standard (IFFO RS), the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard or equivalent. BioMar Group also states that the company fully achieved its goal to have 100 percent legality and traceability of feed ingredients through its supply chain.

Aquaculture feed innovations

BioMar Group has introduced several innovative products that could drastically reduce the impact of feed production on the ecosystem. It claims to be the first company to commercialise a plant-based product with high levels of omega-3, a key fatty acid for salmon growth. By using a fermented microalgae, the company can avoid depending on marine resources in its feed. Moreover, BioMar Group is producing a protein-rich product made from non-animal sources, relying instead on algae, yeast, fungi and bacteria. Finally, BioMar Group has started producing insect-based fish meal, but states that the product is not yet economically viable.

Implementation of human and labour rights policies

BioMar Group commits to respecting human rights through its code of conduct and modern slavery act statement. The company states that it offers relevant training to all employees under its new code of conduct. While BioMar Group has a whistleblowing line with external partner Expolink, the company lacks public disclosure around what mechanisms are in place to report on any potential adverse impacts on human rights and how it seeks to provide remediation.

Support for local communities

Although BioMar Group states that it is involved in local communities with the aim of improving living conditions through cultural, social and educational activities, the company does not disclose what mechanisms it has in place to achieve this goal. BioMar Group could formulate a commitment to better implement approaches that benefit the livelihoods of people living in local communities where it operates.

Environmental footprint

BioMar Group has a KPI to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent per kilogram of feed by 2020. Despite improvements from 2014 to 2017, the company increased emissions in 2018 by 138 percent of its original baseline figure, reaching 75 kilograms per tonne. Moreover, while the company states that it has zero food loss and that all feed is reused, it does not provide any substantiating information about its approach or the mechanisms used to repurpose food by-products. BioMar Group could improve both its performance and disclosure related to key metrics regarding its environmental footprint.