Consumer goods manufacturer, Procter & Gamble, is on its way to becoming a zero waste-to-landfill corporation.
56 percent of the company’s facilities have achieved zero-waste production across 19 countries and recently announced active plans for 100 percent of its plants to become zero waste-to-landfill facilities by the year of 2020.
Upon achieving this goal, the company says that it would be “eliminating or re-using about 650,000 metric tons of waste.”
(Image courtesy of Procter & Gamble.)
The manufacturing industry is a significant contributor to the worlds collective garbage pile. In the
As landfills pile up, and environmentalist movements become more outspoken, the pressure to succumb to environmental consciousness is growing. Reducing waste has become vital for sustainability - both for the environment and businesses.
“We are accelerating progress toward our long term vision and pushing ourselves to do more – with less waste,” said Shailesh Jejurikar, president of global fabric care and executive sponsor for sustainability. “Since 2010, we’ve been working toward a vision of sending zero manufacturing and consumer waste to landfills. This announcement marks another step on that journey.”
For P&G to succeed, implementing strict recycling standards is the first step. Incoming products must be recyclable.
“Our employees are using the same innovation skills and zero loss mentality they put into manufacturing our products to drive out waste,” said Yannis Skoufalos, P&G president of global product supply.
“For example, surfactants from Head and Shoulders waste in China are repurposed into carwash, while scrap from our Tampax plant in Canada is used to make emergency spill containment products. These innovative external partnerships enable our sites to see scrap not as waste, but as potential worth for someone else.”
When using non-recyclable materials, P&G still manages to eliminate waste. The company is using plastic laminate materials and utilizing the waste to create building panels at a very low expense at their Indian facilities. This alone successfully eliminates 3,000 tons of waste yearly that would otherwise sit in a landfill.
P&G’s zero waste-to-landfill concept serves as an example for the manufacturing industry. Their efforts renew and create numerous products across many geographical territories, exemplifying feasibility and plausibility for profitable, proactive, environmentally-friendly action.
Do you think the manufacturing industry can contribute similar environmental efforts? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
For more information, visit the Procter & Gamble website.