Glossary

ALDI Factory Advancement Project

In 2013, ALDI launched the Factory Advancement (AFA) Project for production facilities in the apparel industry in Bangladesh. It is intended to bring about improvements in working conditions and is also supposed to help establish resilient social relationships at the production facilities.

amfori BEPI

amfori BEPI is an initiative of amfori (formerly the Foreign Trade Association – FTA). amfori BEPI aims to promote environmental conservation in supply chains in production countries during chemical-intensive production processes, among other things.

amfori BSCI

Compliance with the amfori BSCI Code of Conduct is monitored and evaluated by on-site inspections (audits). If significant objections emerge as a result of the audit, the production facilities are required to develop remedial measures within a period of 60 working days. In this case, a follow-up audit is carried out within a period of one year. The ALDI North Group expects all suppliers to eliminate any defects as quickly as possible and to provide regular status reports on their implementation status as well as corresponding documentation.

amfori BSCI-Audit

Compliance with the amfori BSCI Code of Conduct is monitored and evaluated by on-site inspections (audits). If significant objections emerge as a result of the audit, the production facilities are required to develop remedial measures within a period of 60 working days. In this case, a follow-up audit is carried out within a period of one year. The ALDI North Group expects all suppliers to eliminate any defects as quickly as possible and to provide regular status reports on their implementation status as well as corresponding documentation.

amfori BSCI Code of Conduct

The Code of Conduct is based on numerous international agreements, including the core conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations (UN). All eleven central employee rights are enshrined within the Code of Conduct, including the right to freedom of association and the right to participate in collective bargaining negotiations. It prohibits discrimination, child labour and forced labour. All amfori BSCI participants are themselves committed to complying with the amfori BSCI Code of Conduct, and they in turn also demand compliance from their business partners. At the ALDI North Group, this requirement is defined contractually for all suppliers.

Aquaculture Stewardship Council

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is an independent international non-profit organisation established in 2010 by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH). The ASC aims to make fish farming more sustainable worldwide. The standard advocates environmentally compatible and socially responsible fish farming.

Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety

This accord for the improvement of fire and building safety in Bangladesh was drafted following the Rana Plaza disaster in April 2013. The ALDI North Group signed the accord in May 2013. From our perspective, the accord is an important and fundamental step in improving the safety of workers in the textile sector in Bangladesh. The accord includes an agreement on independent safety inspections.

Book & Claim certificates

The Book & Claim supply chain model allows RSPO-certified mills, palm kernel crushers and independent smallholder groups to sell RSPO credits to the supply chain players at the end of the supply chain while selling their physical oil palm products conventionally and/or without certification.

Mills, palm kernel crushers and independent smallholder groups can sell their certified volumes through one or more of the four supply chain models, ensuring that the volume is only sold once. Members of RSPO can purchase RSPO Credits to compensate for the volume of non-certified/conventional oil palm products used in their processes. By purchasing RSPO Credits, buyers can create direct incentives for sellers to engage in sustainable production practices (source: RSPO [2017]: RSPO Supply Chain Certification Standard).

BREEAM

BREEAM stands for Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology. The standard is one of the oldest and internationally most widely recognised certification systems for sustainable building.

Partnership for Sustainable Textiles

The Partnership for Sustainable Textiles is a multi-stakeholder initiative with about 150 members from the fields of business, politics and civil society. Together they are striving to improve conditions in global textile production – from the production of raw materials to disposal. The textiles partnership was initiated in October 2014 by German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Dr Gerd Müller. Today, members of the textiles partnership already account for about half of the German textile market. The partnership aims to cover 75 per cent of the market by the end of 2018.

Compliance

The concept of compliance covers all the measures which are intended to ensure that a company, its governance bodies and its employees all act in accordance with the statutory legislation, and that all legal obligations and prohibitions, internal company regulations (such as CR), contractual provisions defined by third parties (codes of conduct) or voluntary obligations (such as codes from sector initiatives) are observed.

EU organic logo

All products that bear the organic label have been produced and inspected in accordance with EU regulations. Among other things, the organic label stands for tested water quality, regard for natural habitats and certified organic feed.

European Clothing Action Plan

The European Clothing Action Plan (ECAP) is an EU LIFE-funded project that aims to reduce the negative environmental impact of the textile industry by taking a circular economy approach and working with participating companies and other shareholders to develop measures throughout the product life cycle. The project runs for three and a half years and will end in March 2019. By that time, the project will have set specific goals, such as reducing textile waste in the EU by 90,000 metric tons; reducing the industry’s carbon, water and waste footprints; and educating consumers on the contribution they can make through more sustainable consumption.

Fairtrade

Products with the Fairtrade label come from fair-trade practices. The aim is to promote smallholder farmers and workers in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and to sustainably improve their position in the global market. To receive the label, international fair-trade standards must be observed, which cover wide-ranging social, economic and environmental aspects.

Food and non-food

By “food”, we mean all food from both our special-buy and standard product ranges, including seasonal and regional products. The standard product range is permanently available in our stores, but it varies from country to country and is different at individual stores. “Non-food” describes, among other things, our cosmetic and toiletry products from the standard range and a large proportion of our weekly special-buy products such as furniture or textiles.

FSC^®

The acronym FSC^® refers to the independent certification organisation Forest Stewardship Council^®. The FSC^® differentiates between three categories: FSC^® 100%, FSC^® MIX and FSC^® RECYCLED.

GLOBALG.A.P.

GLOBALG.A.P. is a private organisation which has developed voluntary standards for the certification of agricultural products (including fruit and vegetables, feedstock, animal husbandry, plants and seeds, and aquaculture). The inspections focus on food safety, animal welfare, waste and environmental management, and occupational health and safety. Producers certified in accordance with the GLOBALG.A.P. standard can prove that all steps in their production process are fully traceable and are subject to comprehensive monitoring.

Global Organic Textile Standard

The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) defines demanding, globally consistent criteria for the processing of textiles from certified, organically produced natural fibres throughout the entire textile supply chain. These criteria include the certified organic cultivation of fibres, environmentally friendly and socially responsible manufacturing practices and consistent product labelling. Only textile products made from at least 70 per cent certified organic natural fibres can receive GOTS certification from independent testing labs.

GRASP

GRASP stands for GLOBALG.A.P. Risk Assessment on Social Practice and is a voluntary add-on module developed to assess social practices on farms. It addresses specific aspects of workers’ health, safety and welfare, which are monitored during audits. A GRASP assessment helps producers to establish a good social management system on their farms. Since 2016, we have required fruit and vegetable farms to undergo a GRASP social assessment to help us better evaluate producers’ social management systems.

IFS Food Standard & Test Seal

The IFS Food Standard is an accredited standard of the GFSI for auditing food manufacturers. The focus is on food safety and the quality of processes and products. The standard applies to processors of food and to companies in which food is packaged. Alongside the IFS Food Standard, we also accept other GFSI-accredited food safety standards in some cases.

Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement is an agreement between the 195 member states of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Adopted on 12 December 2015 at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, it aims to limit anthropogenic global warming to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels.

Leather Working Group

The objective of the Leather Working Group is to develop and maintain protocols that assess the environmental compliance and performance capabilities of leather manufacturers and promote sustainable and appropriate environmental business practices within the leather industry. The group seeks to improve the leather manufacturing industry by creating alignment on environmental priorities, bringing visibility to best practices and providing suggested guidelines for continual improvement in areas including energy and water consumption, chemical management and traceability.

Marine Stewardship Council

The Marine Stewardship Council is an independent, international non-profit organisation that administers the globally recognised MSC label for fish sourced from sustainable fishing practices. If a fishery wants to obtain the MSC label, it must undergo evaluation under the MSC environmental standard for sustainable fishing and meet its specifications.

Organic Content Standard

The Organic Content Standard (OCS), which is promulgated by the organisation Textile Exchange, guarantees that a set percentage of a product is made from organically grown cotton. OCS can be used to track organic cotton in the production chain as well as all other organic fibres, such as sheep’s wool and linen

PEFC^TM

The abbreviation PEFC™ stands for the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes, which is an independent, international certification organisation. PEFC™ differentiates between two categories: PEFC™ for certified fresh fibres and PEFC™ Recycled for certified recycled materials.

Physical certification

Palm oil products can be physically RSPO-certified if they meet the requirements of one of the three supply chain systems Identity Preserved (IP), Segregation (SEG) or Mass Balance (MB).

1. Identity Preserved (IP): It is possible to trace the oil back to a single, specific plantation. The palm oil is segregated, meaning it is kept strictly physically separated from non-certified palm oil throughout the supply chain. The final product contains only certified palm oil.

2. Segregation (SEG): As with IP, the final product contains only certified palm oil. However, material from several sustainably certified plantations may be mixed.

3. Mass Balance (MB): Under this system certified palm oil is mixed with non-certified palm oil in a controlled manner at the refinery. As a result, the final product does not just contain certified palm oil. This kind of system requires exact record-keeping and complete monitoring of the certified flow of goods throughout the supply chain.

Rainforest Alliance

The international environmental conservation organisation Rainforest Alliance was founded in 1987 to help fight the encroaching destruction of rain forests. The Rainforest Alliance Certified™ seal, featuring a green frog, identifies products such as coffee, cocoa, tea, bananas or citrus fruit from farms that employ sustainable cultivation methods. In exchange, farmers and producer organisations must fulfil the strict criteria of the Rainforest Alliance standard for sustainable agriculture, which include environmental conservation, and social and economic criteria. Better working conditions for workers, access to education and the conservation of natural resources, sensitive ecosystems and wild animals are part of this standard, as is the traceability of resources.

UTZ

The UTZ programme was launched in 2002 with the aim of providing sustainable support to farmers in the countries that produce coffee, cocoa, tea, herbs and hazelnuts to create better prospects for their families. In a wide range of training and education programmes, farmers receive lessons on theory as well as practical support employing good agricultural and business practices. It also promotes organic cultivation and harvesting measures to conserve natural resources in the producing country. This wide range of measures ultimately increases not only the quality of the resources, but also the efficiency of cultivation – and therefore the financial earnings of farmers.

Packaging waste

At the ALDI North Group, we differentiate between sales packaging, outer packaging and transport packaging. The outer and transport packaging included in our data is attributable to our distribution centres and stores. Our customers can dispose of sales packaging – i.e. the product and packaging combined – directly at our stores. However, our customers usually dispose of sales packaging themselves at home.