Greentech Lead America: Procter & Gamble has announced that 45 of their facilities have now achieved zero manufacturing waste to landfill.
This marks a major step towards the company’s long-term vision of sending zero manufacturing and consumer waste to landfills.
Over the past 5 years, P&G’s work to find worth in waste has created over $1 billion in value for the company.
Bob McDonald, P&G president, CEO and chairman of the Board said, “We have a vision for the future, where plants are powered by renewable energy, products are made from recycled and renewable materials and resources are conserved, with no waste going to landfill.”
“Changing the way we see waste as a Company has brought us one step closer to this goal at 45 sites worldwide, where all of our manufacturing waste is recycled, repurposed or converted into energy,” McDonald added.
P&G announced its first zero manufacturing waste to landfill site in Budapest in 2007. Since then, the Company has shared a long-term Environmental Vision, pledging to work toward zero consumer and manufacturing waste worldwide.
Through quality assurance, packaging reduction, compaction and recycling efforts, the company now ensures that 99 percent of all materials entering P&G plants leaves as finished product or is recycled, reused or converted to energy. Now, as the Company celebrates its 175th year, less than 1 percent of all materials entering P&G sites globally leaves as waste.
To drive all sites toward zero, P&G has searched for innovative ways to find value in what was once seen as waste. In Mexico, paper sludge from a Charmin toilet tissue plant is turned into low-cost roof tiles used to build homes in the local community. At a U.S. Pampers site, scrap from the wipe manufacturing process is converted to upholstery filling. And, in the U.K., waste created in the production of Gillette shaving foam is composted then used to grow turf for commercial uses.
This announcement coincides with a Company-wide message to inspire employees and consumers to think differently about the everyday things they do and the surprisingly positive impact they can have on the environment.