US – Danone North America, a consumer-packaged food and beverage company based in Broomfield, has announced its goal to achieve Zero Waste to landfills across all North American facilities by 2025.
The goal sets a new standard on how the company is to recycle and reduce waste through updated processes and increased education.
The company said that already 15% of the goal has been achieved by its manufacturing facilities and the new standards will drive the accomplishing of the remaining target.
According to Danone North America, being one of the world’s largest Certified B Corporations and a market leader in dairy products, embracing the responsibility to support a more sustainable world is pivotal.
The Zero Waste to Landfill goal creates a bridge to the company’s existing “One Planet. One Health” frame of action, which includes the company’s commitment to reducing food loss and waste in the U.S. operations by 50% by 2030 and achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The Zero Waste to Landfill is achieved when at least 99% of waste generated throughout the manufacturing process is diverted from landfills.
As a result, waste produced throughout food and beverage production, including handling, storage, processing, packaging, and distribution, is reused, upcycled, recycled, composted, or sent for energy recovery.
In order for Danone North America’s manufacturing plants to achieve the goal of Zero Waste to landfills, they are working with third-party partners like Veolia ESS and with local organizations, including ShurGreen Farms, Langdon, and Sons, Wasatch Resource Recovery, and EBI Montreal.
Through these partnerships, the company is bringing forth innovative solutions to divert waste from landfills to instead be reused, recycled, or composted.
While in 2020, only 4.8% of Danone North America’s waste was sent to landfills across its company facilities, the company diverted more than 2,500 tons of waste from landfills in 2021.
According to Elizabeth Masteller, Environment Health & Safety Manager at Danone North America, the 2021 waste was sent to ShurGreen Farms to be transformed into renewable energy, crop nutrition, and animal feed.
She added that it is an eye-opening amount of waste diverted from landfills, and a further step in the company’s One Planet. One Health frame of action.
Danone North America noted that it will continue to work with all company facilities to implement processes that promote a circular economy and eradicate waste to fully achieve Zero Waste to Landfill goal by 2025.
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