P&G Makes Zero Manufacturing Waste Pledge

Procter and Gamble (P&G) said it will invest in recycling and reuse programs at all of its global production sites to “eliminate” manufacturing waste from its operations by 2020, the Cincinnati, OH headquartered company announced Wednesday.

“We are accelerating progress toward our long-term vision and pushing ourselves to do more – with less waste,” said Shailesh Jejurikar, executive sponsor for sustainability and president of the company’s Global Fabric Care unit. “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.”

56% of P&G’s manufacturing sites have already been qualified as zero manufacturing waste to landfill, according to the company, and the plans to qualify the rest of the company’s facilities will be completed within four years.

“This means eliminating or beneficially re-using about 650,000 MT of waste, equivalent to the weight of nearly 350,000 mid-sized cars that would typically go to landfills,” a P&G press release announcing the initiative said.

The company said it will meet its waste pledge through that al materials received at its facilities are converted into finished products, recycled in house or externally, or reused in other ways through partnerships.

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“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, president of P&G’s Global Product Supply division. “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.”