Reckitt Benckiser achieves zero manufacturing waste to landfill in Europe and North America

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Major health and hygiene company RB has met a goal of having zero manufacturing waste to landfill at its facilities in Europe and North America.

Previously known as Reckitt Benckiser, the company now has 60 per cent of its factories meeting this ambition globally.

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Its sustainability strategy ‘betterbusiness’ includes targets to send zero waste to landfill and reduce waste per unit of production by 10 per cent by 2020.

The firm has reduced waste per unit by 7 per cent globally since 2013 and its European and North American sites have its zero waste to landfill target five years early.

RB global head of sustainability Victoria Wood said: “Since launching our betterbusiness strategy in 2012, we’ve seen a rapid transition towards zero waste. We’ve gone from 4 to 31 factories achieving zero manufacturing waste to landfill status.

“This is over 60 per cent of our factories globally. I’m proud of what our teams have achieved in such a short time and how they are hitting our targets early.”

In 2014, RB made waste a focus of its sustainability plan and to accelerate progress and create a zero waste culture, it:

  • Created a network of waste champions and established a ‘buddy-up’ programme where it partnered zero manufacturing factories with those who have not yet met the target
  • Launched a ‘race to zero’ campaign which included a series of waste events encouraging competition among sites
  • Issued a global employee challenge to crowdsource innovative waste reuse and recycling ideas
  • Completed waste audits.

 

Over the first six months of this year, RB has diverted over 32,000 tonnes of waste from landfill, and reduced the total percentage of waste sent to landfill to 15.6 per cent versus 19.7 per cent in the first half of 2013.