2Sustain

A year ago, I wrote about the launch of the Procter & Gamble Company’s supplier environmental sustainable scorecard and rating process.

Now, P&G has released an update on scorecard results, while also announcing that it has rolled out an expanded version for 2011.

“By urging collaboration and unlocking innovation to create meaningful environmental progress, the initiative has already been a success and is just another example of how we strive to touch and improve the lives of more consumers, more completely, in more parts of the world,” Dr. Len Sauers, Procter & Gamble’s vice president for global sustainability, said in a press release. “Working with our external partners is clearly critical to realizing our long-term environmental vision as a company, and this scorecard is a helpful tool to facilitate that collaboration. After all, using 100 percent renewable or recycled materials for all products and packaging will only be achieved through strong collaboration with our business partners.”

The P&G Supplier Scorecard was designed to measure and improve the environmental performance of key suppliers, and it has three fundamental goals: (more…)

P&G underscored its commitment to environmental sustainability with the announcement last week that its Auburn, Maine site is now zero waste to landfill. The Auburn site, which produces feminine care products, is the first P&G manufacturing plant in North America to achieve this goal.

According to P&G, the plant now recycles or reuses more than 60 percent of its waste. The remainder is converted to energy. The company says forming business partnerships was critical for meeting the zero waste goal.

For instance, the P&G Global Asset Recovery Purchases (GARP) team, which is charged with finding external partners that can turn waste and non-performing inventory into something useful, connected the plant with a site solution provider who helped sort all recyclable materials and convert existing non-recyclable materials to energy through incineration. The electricity from the incineration is used by the incineration facility and then, the excess is sold to the local power company. P&G estimates that the GARP team has diverted tens of thousands of tons from landfills while delivering tens of millions of dollars in cost recovery in the past year alone. (more…)

The Procter & Gamble Company announced last week that it is accelerating its commitment to environmental sustainability with the release of a long-term environmental sustainability vision. According to P&G, this new vision includes:

• Powering its plants with 100 percent renewable energy

• Using 100 percent renewable or recycled materials for all products and packaging

• Having zero consumer and manufacturing waste go to landfills

• Designing products that delight consumers while maximizing the conservation of resources

The company will also implement very specific 10-year sustainability goals, as outlined in this graphic: (more…)

Earlier this month, the Procter & Gamble Company announced that it will be using renewable, sustainable, sugarcane-derived plastic on selected packaging in its beauty and grooming product line. The company says it will be piloting the new packaging globally over the next two years, with the first products expected to be on store shelves in 2011.

The new sugarcane-derived plastic is made using an innovative process that transforms sugarcane into high-density polyethylene (HDPE) –a plastic commonly used for product packaging. The new packaging   remains 100 percent recyclable in existing municipal recycling facilities, and represents a significant step forward in sustainable packaging because it is made from a renewable resource –unlike traditional plastic, which is made from non-renewable petroleum. (more…)

Taking a page from Walmart’s playbook, the Procter & Gamble Company has launched a supplier environmental sustainability scorecard and rating process to measure and improve the environmental performance of its key suppliers.

The new scorecard is the result of 18 months of close collaboration with P&G’s Supplier Sustainability Board, which includes more than 20 leading supplier representatives from the company’s global  supplier network.  It will assess suppliers’ environmental impact and encourage continued improvement by measuring energy use, water use, waste disposal and greenhouse gas emissions on a year-to-year basis.

It’s worth noting that P&G also took the additional step of making the scorecard “open code,” so that any interested organization can use it. According to a press release, that’s all part the company’s effort to create an initiative that can have far reaching cross-industry impact. In fact, P&G is encouraging its suppliers to use the scorecard within their own supply chains. (more…)