Ecolab Is First in World to Receive Alliance for Water Stewardship Standard Certification

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EcolabEcolab’s manufacturing plant in Taicang, China, is the first site in the world to be independently certified under the Alliance for Water Stewardship’s global standard for water stewardship.

The ASW Standard is an ISEAL-compliant framework developed to promote sustainable freshwater use and to evaluate water stewardship practices. This globally consistent and locally adaptable standard outlines a set of water stewardship criteria and indicators for how water should be stewarded at a site and catchment level.

Ecolab — which was named to Ethisphere Institute’s World’s Most Ethical Companies list this year — is a founding partner of AWS and was one of the first companies to pilot the AWS Standard. Ecolab partnered with World Wildlife Fund to field test and implement the framework at its Taicang manufacturing plant, which is located in a water-sensitive area in the Taihu basin of the Yangtze region.

This work resulted in a systematic approach to water stewardship that included implementation of water reduction projects within the facility as well as initial collective action with other water users and stakeholders, including local authorities, operating within the same catchment.

Ecolab’s facility in Taicang opened in August 2012 and is the company’s largest site in the Asia Pacific region. The facility produces a complete portfolio of cleaning, sanitizing, food safety and infection prevention solutions for customers in a wide range of growing industries, including: food and beverage production, food retail, hospitality, healthcare and dairy, meat and poultry processing.

Certification of Ecolab’s Taicang site to the AWS Standard was undertaken by TÜV Rheinland, an independent third-party AWS-accredited organization responsible for assessment of Ecolab’s compliance with the AWS Standard. TÜV Rheinland certified the Taicang manufacturing plant as “AWS Core Certified.”

 

Environment + Energy Leader