FDBusiness.com

Procter & Gamble (P&G) has announced that a majority of its facilities have achieved zero manufacturing waste to landfill

The owner of consumer brands including Gillette, Ariel, Tide and Pampers said that 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, chief executive 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.”

P&G announced its first zero manufacturing waste to landfill site in Budapest in 2007. Since then, the company said that it has shared a long-term environmental vision, pledging to work toward zero consumer and manufacturing waste worldwide.

Packaging reduction

According to P&G, through quality assurance, packaging reduction, compaction and recycling efforts, the company now ensures that 99% of all materials entering P&G plants leaves as finished product or is recycled, reused or converted to energy.

“There are well-defined systems for recycling materials like paper, plastic and glass, but our product portfolio is incredibly broad, resulting in a diverse set of waste streams to find sustainable solutions for,” said Dr. Forbes McDougall, who leads P&G’s global zero manufacturing waste program.

He added: “We focused on finding solutions for our toughest waste streams at our largest sites, and while initially we saw progress in our overall corporate recycling, the increase in zero landfill sites was slow. Today, we have found ways to divert most of our major waste streams away from landfill, so we’re now seeing new sites achieve zero manufacturing waste to landfill nearly every month.”