5 april 2024
This week, the first draft scheme for Responsibly Produced Coir was discussed with the 13 coir companies supporting the project. They were able to give their feedback on this concept before and during the meeting.
The draft scheme Responsibly Produced Coir has been drawn up by a working group consisting of a representation from the participating coir companies, supplemented by a representation from audit organisation IMO and ‘Glastuinbouw Nederland’.
The concept scheme Responsibly Produced Coir describes social and environmental aspects for the responsible production of coir. One condition, for example, is a safe and healthy working environment for employees. This includes protection against coconut dust, heat and dehydration with sufficient personal protection for safe handling of machinery. Requirements are also included on the wise use of water and chemicals at processing sites. And proper wastewater treatment is essential to prevent local scarcity and pollution.
The draft scheme Responsibly Produced Coir will be shared with a broader group of stakeholders, after the feedback from the 13 participating coir companies has been processed. In this way, interest groups, retailers, producers, scheme owners and NGOs are involved in the developments at an early stage to ensure broad acceptance of the sustainability scheme. After the feedback from these stakeholders has been processed, a pilot phase will start to test the scheme in practice at a number of different companies.
The aim of the pilot is to test the implementation and auditability of the Responsibly Produced Coir scheme in practice. Any points for improvement that arise from this will be incorporated into the final scheme. After that, companies can get certified for Responsibly Produced Coir.
