Phase 1 work is deeply rooted in the fact that there is a wide spectrum of small to medium-sized food and beverage processing firms in the GTA and province of Ontario, that fall into different stages of sustainability, i.e., from laggards to market leaders as shown in Figure 1, right.

Since individual SME companies will be at various stages of sustainability in the Ontario food and beverage processing industry, the specific objectives for Phase 1 of this project are to:

1. Identify superior sustainability performance indicators for the food and beverage processing industry and develop a sustainability self-assessment tool with criteria for Stage 4 companies (i.e., those with superior sustainability performance) for primary and/or secondary processors³.
2. Benchmark⁴ the superior sustainability performance of industry leaders in the food and beverage industry (i.e., cluster of companies which are already at Stages 4 and 5 of the sustainability continuum). The result would be a representation of superior sustainability performance benchmarks in the food and beverage industry.
3. Based on the sustainability performance of industry leaders, design a framework for a "Sustainability Program" with elements customized for the food and beverage processing industry. The framework will include a "how to" holistic approach enabling integration of sustainability principles into business operations, and thus helping the remaining group of SMEs in the food and beverage industry, i.e., those at Stage 3 (Beyond Compliance) or below, to shift toward Stages 4 and 5 (Integrated Strategy).

Figure 1: The Five Stages of Sustainability
with "Shades of Green"

Source: Adapted and updated from Willard, 2005¹ and Freeman et al, 2002²