FDBusiness.com

An innovation centre built by Cereal Partners Worldwide in Switzerland has been recognised as a leading example of sustainable design. The firm, a joint venture between Nestle and General Mills, has been awarded a platinum certification by the United States Green Building Council for the building in the Swiss city of Orbe.

It is the first time a Swiss building has won the highest level of certification the council awards to recognise leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED). The centre uses water from melted alpine snow for its cooling systems, an innovation that helps reduce energy usage by a third.

More than 50,000 gallons of rainwater are collected and stored in tanks for irrigation and for use in sanitary facilities at the site. Burned ground coffee waste produces steam to provide a back-up source of heating. And more than half the building was constructed using locally-sourced recycled materials.

Nestle and General Mills set up the joint venture CPW to produce and sell ready-to-eat breakfast cereals worldwide beyond the US and Canada. The innovation centre is part of CPW’s global Research and Development network. It focuses on ideas to improve nutritional content, freshness, taste and texture for the firm’s well-known breakfast cereal brands like Fitness, Cheerios and Nesquik.

Switzerland is not the only place in the world where Nestle is developing greener buildings. In the United States, Nestle Waters North America recently received the LEED Gold certification for its headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. It is the company’s tenth LEED-certified building in the country.

Elsewhere in the US, Nestle Purina PetCare is converting the sun’s rays into renewable energy at its Flagstaff pet food factory in Arizona. Currently, 21 Nescafe factories worldwide are using spent coffee grounds as renewable energy source.