Home of KIT KAT goes zero waste to landfill as Nestlé UK publishes update on sustainability progress
Nestlé UK has today announced that one of the World’s largest confectionery plants has achieved zero waste. The Nestlé York site makes over a billion Kit Kats and 183 million Aero’s each year and achieved zero waste to landfill status nearly four years ahead of the company’s 2015 target.
The move to zero waste has achieved a yearly saving of nearly £120,000 via the removal of landfill tax, a 70% reduction in the number of skip lifts used and revenue generated by selling nearly 800 tonnes of recovered materials such as cardboard, plastics, metal, pallets and metallised film.
The achievement is a milestone within Nestlé’s sustainability programme which set a target for all 14 factories in the UK and Ireland to achieve zero total waste by 2015. Girvan on the West Coast of Scotland and Dalston in Cumbria became zero waste in 2010.
In September 2010, targets were set by the Nestlé UK & Ireland business to support its long term sustainability vision. An interim report has been published providing an update on progress made. In addition to reducing waste significant progress has been made in terms of a 36% reduction in absolute water usage and reductions made in packaging by reducing packaging used in Easter Eggs, Christmas selection boxes and catering Nescafé stick packs and sachets.
Paul Grimwood Chairman & CEO Nestlé UK & Ireland said: “Although there is still much to do in our sustainability journey I am very proud of what our employees have achieved in such a short time. At Nestle we are committed to manufacturing and doing business in a way that protects the planet and its resources for future generations and helps our local communities thrive. Making such progress in reducing the amount of waste our factories send to landfill, how much water we use and packaging we produce are significant steps.
In addition to the publically stated targets later this year Nestle will also embark on an ambitious ‘Lighthouse’ project at its Fawdon factory. The Newcastle site will be used as a test bed and learning centre for exploring new ideas and technologies to accelerate Nestlé’s progress towards its sustainability vision. As well as focusing on achieving zero waste the factory aims to reduce both its water consumption and CO2 emissions by 50% in the next two years. As a first step a butterfly meadow has been planted at the site to promote biodiversity.
Paul Grimwood continued: I am particularly excited about our project in Fawdon which will demonstrate our holistic approach to environmental sustainability and will quite literally transform how manufacture in the UK. This will act as a test bed for techniques which we can then scale up and apply across our business to accelerate our sustainability journey even faster.”
Nestlé UK and Ireland first published its Creating Shared Value report in 2010. The targets cove: Nutrition, Health and Wellness, energy and emissions, water, waste, packaging, transport & distribution and sourcing. A formal follow up report will be published in 2012.
Creating Shared Value encompasses Nestlé’s global belief that in order to enhance and protect its business it needs to go beyond compliance and sustainability in order to create new and greater value for its people, shareholders and society as a whole.
Notes to Editors
Nestlé UK & Ireland
Nestlé UK and Ireland has approximately 7,000 employees across 20 sites and comprises: Nestlé UK (Food & Beverage and Nestlé Confectionery), Nestlé Ireland, Nestlé Professional Nestlé Purina Petcare, Nestlé Waters, Cereal Partners UK (a joint venture with General Mills) and Lactalis-Nestlé Chilled Dairy (a joint venture with Lactalis).
In the UK, the company manufactures some of Nestlé’s most popular and iconic brands, including KIT KAT® confectionery (the UK’s No 1 selling biscuit), QUALITY STREET® confectionery, NESCAFÉ® soluble coffee, SHREDDED WHEAT® cereal, BUXTON® water, NESTLÉ® PURE LIFE® water, SKI® yoghurt and FRISKIES® petfood.
Nestlé UK & Ireland – July 2011 Creating Shared Value Update
Zeroing in on factory waste
The York site joins Nestlé’s other zero waste sites in Grivan, Scotland where chocolate crumb is manufactured and Dalston, Cumbria where Nescafé Cappuccino is made. Both sites were verified by Bureau Veritas in 2010.
In addition to the York factory the site houses a logistics and distribution centres, several corporate functions and a global research and development centre.
Nestle partnered with Yorwaste to develop a total waste management solution with more than thirty Nestlé recycling champions identified covering all shifts and processes on the York site overseeing the different kinds of waste generated.
Reducing Packaging
Since the early 1990s, Nestlé has been reducing the amount of packaging it uses through its global source reduction programme.
In 2009, Nestlé UK & Ireland became the first major confectionery manufacturer to replace non-recylable plastic with recyclable cardboard packaging in 20 million Easter eggs, 80% of the 25 million that were made that year. In 2010 Nestlé introduced cardboard trays to many of its large Easter eggs, replacing plastic inserts and reducing their use in a further 10% of production.
Although the 2011 reductions are smaller than in previous years, Nestlé Confectionery UK has reduced the amount of packaging materials used for medium Easter eggs by a further 100 tonnes (-12.6%) versus 2010. This has been achieved by reducing pack sizes and using different formats such as foil wrapped hollow figures.
In November 2010 Nestlé Professional introduced new Nescafé stick packs which used 22 tonnes less packaging and in May this year reduced the packaging used on Nescafé Latte, Nescafé Cappuccino and Aero Hot Chocolate sachets saving a further 15.3 tonnes of packaging.
Acting fast on water
In line with the global strategy, Nestlé UK has water reduction programmes in place at all manufacturing sites, offices and distribution centres.
To date absolute water usage has been reduced by 36% since 2006 - well ahead of the 2020 target and the commitments under the Food and Drink Federation’s Federation House Commitment.
This reduction has been achieved through a range of site specific reductions ranging from the installation of a new £500,000 waste treatment plant at the Girvan site in September 2010 to reducing the amount of water taken in at Fawdon factory by 25% by removing cooling towers and installing new washing systems.
Click here to view of a copy of the CSV target update (pdf, 2Mb).