And Then There Were 10
The Clorox plant in Conghua, China.
By Steve Clarke, Environmental & Sustainability Client Manager
Six years ago, Clorox set on a path toward good growth that included a commitment to have 10 Zero Waste to Landfill (ZWtL) locations by 2020.
In order to become ZWtL, a facility had to meet three key criteria:
- At least 90 percent of the site waste is reused, recycled, or composted
- The remaining 10 percent of the waste is sent out for energy recovery
- Pass a corporate audit, which includes reviewing documentation and evaluating waste and recycling practices
At the time, this was considered a very challenging goal for Clorox — especially trying to meet the diversion rates and finding operations that create energy from waste.
The path to zero
Clorox started the process by conducting a series of dumpster dives throughout the company network. Once we got the ball rolling, several plants started working to drive out waste. It all culminated in July 2018, when Glad’s Conghua, China, plant became our 10th certified ZWtL location.
Members of the Clorox China team who helped the plant reach zero-waste status.
This milestone meant we met this sustainability goal two years ahead of schedule. We’ve also already met our goal to reduce overall solid waste to landfill by 20 percent — in fact, we’ve reduced it by 33 percent as of 2017. (Click here to learn about all our 2020 Sustainability commitments.)
Each ZWtL site has put in substantial time and effort to meet this goal locally.
Learning, training, adjusting and implementing improvements to scrap handling at every level of a site’s operations is a must to meet the ZWtL designation. Combined, these 10 sites reuse, recycle or compost over 33,000 tons of material yearly and have an overall reuse/recycling rate of over 99 percent. More importantly, these plants have reduced the amount of waste they generated by over 75 percent since 2012. Another notable achievement is that the company’s entire Glad network is now ZWtL.
Please join me in congratulating the following Clorox sites for helping us achieve our Zero Waste to Landfill goal two years early:
- Fairfield, California
- Orangeville, Ontario, Canada
- Rogers, Arkansas
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Tulti Park Distribution Center, Mexico
- Glad Easy Street Distribution Center, Arkansas
- Willowbrook R&D, Illinois
- Amherst, Virginia
- Biscayne, Ontario, Canada
- Conghua, China
Several other plants, including the three Burt’s Bees locations (which have not sent any waste to landfill since before becoming part of Clorox), are working hard to get to the 90 percent diversion rate to help us exceed our 2020 goal.