Waste reduction efforts include composting, recycling, energy production and providing products for animal feed.
Nestlé USA, based in Glendale, California, has 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. This important milestone supports Nestlé USA’s commitment to environmentally sustainable business practices to protect future generations, the company says.
“We are incredibly proud of the effort it took to accomplish this goal,” says Paul Grimwood, chairman and CEO Nestlé USA. “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 says it is continually looking for new ways to reuse, recycle and recover energy when disposing of manufacturing byproducts. The company’s current efforts include composting, recycling, energy production and the provision of safe products for animal feed.
Employees also take actions to minimize byproducts and to engage in recycling programs and partnerships with vendors that dispose of manufacturing byproducts in line with Nestlé’s environmental sustainability guidelines and standards, the company says. 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 (72 in total) of all of Nestlé’s factories worldwide 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.