“Small changes can make a big difference. We have introduced bottles made from 25% recycled plastic, and through a partnership with GreenOps, which has built recycling stations in stores like this one, we encourage more people to recycle.”
Monique Mims, Senior Innovations Manager, Nestlé Waters N.A., USA
“Recycling is one of our core values, going back 30 years when Whole Foods started. It’s about caring what we do in our communities and says a lot about what we do as a company. We collect returned plastic bottles in the machines provided by our partner GreenOps, and they reprocess them.”
Tony Banuelos, Store Team Leader, Whole Foods Market, West Hollywood, LA, California, USA
Context
Globally, the combination of population growth, increasing affluence and lifestyle patterns are outstripping the planet’s ability to bear the effects of human activity. We believe that we are facing a serious water crisis in the coming years that will have serious consequences for food security. The food chain, from agriculture to manufacturing and consumption, contributes significantly to water quality and availability, climate change, energy use, biodiversity and soil quality, and air quality – at the same time, it is heavily dependent upon all of these environmental resources. As an example, the availability and accessibility of fresh water already affects our business, and we also expect to see the consequences of climate change on our operations over the next decades.
Our goals
Our ambition is to produce tasty and nutritious food and beverages that also have the lowest environmental footprint, so we strive to continuously improve our operational efficiency and environmental performance. We apply a life cycle approach to assess the impacts of our own operations and those associated with the wider value chain, thereby contributing to a better future and Creating Shared Value to both Nestlé and society.
Our actions
We invested over CHF 220 million in environmental sustainability programmes and initiatives during 2009. We continue to identify and implement projects to reduce our use of water, non-renewable energy and other natural resources, to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), to eliminate waste and to improve the environmental performance of our packaging. We also work alongside our suppliers to promote more sustainable practices in our supply chain, including the promotion of water stewardship.
Our performance
We continued to make improvements in our water consumption and CO2 emissions performance through reduced energy consumption following operational energy efficiency measures and a move towards renewable energy sources. More waste is being diverted from landfill and incinerators without energy recovery. A continued focus on packaging weight reduction remains a priority.
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CSV summary:
- Value for Nestlé: Continuously improving environmental performance; productive factories; reduced risks; reduced costs; long-term availability of raw materials and water; sustainable, profitable growth.
- Value for society: Raising of environmental standards; higher incomes; better standards of living.