Greentech Lead America: Unilever United States and Canada today announced that all 26 of its manufacturing and non-manufacturing headquarter facilities are now zero waste to landfill (ZLF).
Unilever has also achieved zero ZLF milestone in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Japan.
In 2010 Unilever established its Sustainable Living Plan that aims to halve Unilever’s environmental footprint of the making and use of its products by 2020. As part of this, Unilever is striving to be at or below 2008 levels of total waste from manufacturing facilities by 2015, despite producing significantly higher volumes.
At present, more than half of Unilever’s 252 global factories are ZLF. The key driver for this achievement of ZLF in both North America manufacturing and non-manufacturing headquarter facilities is the elimination of waste. Where reduction of waste is not sufficient, the company’s facilities reuse, recycle, or recover waste to reach zero waste to landfill.
For example, at the Owensboro, Kentucky facility, which produces pasta sauce under the Ragu and Bertolli brands, paper and plastic are sent for recycling, which is eventually converted into tissues and composite lumber, respectively.
The Clearwater, Florida plant, which makes frozen ice cream novelties under the Klondike, Breyers, Popsicle, and Good Humor brands, has a “reuse program” that includes reusing cookie liners as trash bags throughout the facility, donating office furniture to Habitat for Humanity, donating used shoes to Pinellas Hope Charity, and selling five-gallon plastic buckets to local stores. The Englewood Cliffs, NJ, headquarter facility implemented waste centralization to increase office recycling.
“By eliminating waste, our employees are demonstrating our sustainable business model in action,” said Kees Kruythoff, president, Unilever North America. “This achievement is an important milestone for Unilever as we continue to fulfill our vision of significantly reducing our environmental impact while doubling our business.”