by Shane Henson — February 8, 2013—Unilever, a global supplier of food, home and personal care products, is proving that major corporations can grow their bottom lines while staying committed to their sustainability agendas. Per the company’s recent announcement, more than 50 percent of all its factories have achieved the goal of sending no waste to landfill in 2012.
According to Unilever, this was achieved while the company reported annual sales of 51 billion—up from 40 billion when Unilever set out its new vision of doubling the size of its business while reducing its environmental impact and increasing its positive social impact. Unilever says it has already reached the milestone of 100 percent of sites sending zero waste to landfill in 18 countries. This achievement is reportedly equivalent to removing more than one million household bins of waste every year.
More than 130 Unilever factories across the world, from Costa Rica to Japan, send no non-hazardous waste to landfills. The company says the key driver for this achievement is the elimination of waste in the factories. Under its Sustainable Living Plan, Unilever announced that by 2020, total waste sent for disposal will be at or below 2008 levels—despite producing significantly higher volumes.
Where reduction of waste is not sufficient, the company says it will reuse, recover or recycle waste to reach zero waste to landfill. For example, in Russia, Unilever collects a few tons of perforated outer-tea bags annually and this is sold in pet shops as animal bedding and used for wallpaper. In Hefei (China), Unilever reduced plastics to wrap boxes on pallets by replacing it with reusable elastic fabrics.
