Nestlé has blazed an environmentally friendly trail for others to follow by significantly reducing the environmental impact of its operations, particularly in the UK, and setting ambitious targets for further development.
As pressure mounts on businesses to demonstrate their green credentials, the manufacturer has increased reuse and recycling, slashing disposed waste from 15 UK factories by 4,200t a year (38%). It has reduced input water by 730,000 cubic metres a year (8%) and waste water by 120,000 cubic metres a year (4%). It has also cut energy consumption by 5.8 x 10(14) Joules a year (10%) and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 28,000t a year (10%) between 2005 and 2006.
At the same time Nestlé has made progress in reducing its use of ozone depleting refrigerants by 66 grammes of R11 equivalent per year per tonne of product (32%). This has partly been achieved, for example, by moving to natural refrigerants at its Hayes Nescafé factory and by installing a new central ammonia refrigeration unit at its York plant at a cost of £3.5M.
The global food giant has pledged to completely eliminate the use of hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants in its factories by 2009. And it has cut air acidification from its factories by 25t of SOx equivalents per year.
Since these percentage reductions are even better when measured per tonne of product made, it is clear they are not merely the result of production cuts. They result from real performance improvements, such as the investment in 2006 of £845,000 in advanced waste water treatment at its Dalston factory, which produces Nescafé Cappuccino.
At Nestlé’s large York factory, which makes KitKat, water use has been reduced by around 51,000 cubic metres in the past five years by conducting surveys and tightening up processes. In the next two years the installation of more modern processes combined with water monitoring and targeting are expected to result in further savings.
Nestlé’s targets this year are to cut waste by a further 10% and water consumption by 5% per tonne of product (10% in 2005).
In the UK last year the company exceeded its global parent’s 5% per tonne of product target for energy reduction, by cutting consumption by 12%/t. At its Hayes factory boiler efficiency improvements contributed to a 10% cut, while at its Halifax confectionery plant a similar reduction was achieved. An even bigger reduction (20%) was achieved at its distribution centre.
Under its Climate Change Levy Agreements Nestlé UK is committed to cutting carbon emissions per tonne of finished product by 13% by 2010 from a 2001 baseline.