On the 45th anniversary of Earth Day, Glendale, Calif.-based Nestlé USA announced that all of its 23 factories – spanning confections, dairy, frozen and refrigerated meals, ice cream, baking ingredients, and beverages – are now landfill-free, contributing zero waste for disposal.
“We are incredibly proud of the effort it took to accomplish this goal,” says Paul Grimwood, chairman and ceo of Nestlé USA, in commenting on the milestone. “This is an especially noteworthy achievement given the breadth and complexity of our manufacturing operations across a variety of categories. We are committed to working with our employees to ensure our factories remain landfill-free and are striving for new ways to reduce our environmental impact at each stage of the product lifecycle.”
As part of this effort, Nestlé USA continues to look for new ways to reuse, recycle and recover energy when disposing of manufacturing by-products. The company’s current efforts include composting, recycling, energy production, and the provision of safe products for animal feed.
The company’s employees also take actions to minimize by-products, and engage in robust recycling programs and partnerships with credible waste vendors that dispose of manufacturing by-products in line with Nestlé’s environmental sustainability guidelines and standards. All of Nestlé USA’s factories employ ISO 14001 certified environmental management systems to help manage their environmental impact, including waste elimination.
“Environmental sustainability is part of Nestlé’s commitment to Creating Shared Value in society,” adds Grimwood. “Our goal is for our products to not only be tastier and healthier, but also better for the environment.”
Globally, Nestlé has committed to improving resource efficiency in its operations. Fifteen percent of all of Nestlé’s factories worldwide (72 in total) achieved zero waste for disposal for all of 2014. This achievement exceeds Nestlé’s goal of having 10 percent of its global factories at this stage by 2015. More information is available at www.nestle.com/csv/environmental-sustainability.
