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Published on 26/01/24
Shipped via Henkel
When it comes to sustainability, Henkel’s corporate vision is the roadmap. But in many ways, it’s the mines where rubber takes the road.
Waste is the largest contributor to the company’s overall sustainability footprint, making Zero Production Waste to Landfill a key component of Henkel’s 2030+ Sustainability Ambition Framework. Henkel’s operations teams are working toward an ambitious Zero Waste to Landfill target at all of their operations facilities.
“Zero waste to landfill means that our factories prevent waste streams from reaching landfill. This is mainly achieved through cutting at source, reuse and recycling. Zero waste to landfill is a way for Henkel to complete waste circularity .
-Dominique Haller, Sustainability & Environmental Performance Manager – Henkel Adhesive Technologies North America
Waste circularity aims to keep materials in the supply chain through reuse, repurposing and high-quality recycling (where scrap materials are recycled into the same thing or upcycled into a higher-value process or product). At Henkel, that includes materials such as corrugated cardboard, plastics and other byproducts from the production process.
Conservation, Creativity & Teamwork
Across North America, production sites have discovered artistic tactics to reduce, reuse, and recycle. For example, Henkel adhesive generators in Greenville and Enoree, South Carolina, donate used wood pallets to Izzie’s Pond, a nonprofit that sells the pallets to help fund their rescue. and rehabilitation activities.
The team in Mentor, Ohio, found a colorful way to reduce waste. Every time sealant colors are switched out on the packaging line, the first 40 to 50 tubes contain a mixture of the previous and the new color. Rather than scrapping this high-quality product, Henkel sells these non-standard colors at a lower cost for use in applications where the sealant is not visible.
After participating in the Zero Production Waste to Landfill initiative at their own site, the Brandon, South Dakota team reached out to a partner site to reduce prices and make Zero efforts. Production waste sent to landfill. Through a spouse-only shipment, Henkel’s plant in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, uses internal transportation to ship aluminum oxide to the Brandon plant, where it is diverted to a cement kiln as a raw curtain ingredient.
Henkel works intensively with waste control partners in the region and other partners to find suitable outlets for a variety of waste generated at its facilities.
Cleaning Residue from Clothes
In Bowling Green, Kentucky and St. Louis, Missouri, where laundry products are made, material that was once destined to clean and soften clothes eventually finds new life in buildings and roads.
In collaboration with a waste control and treatment partner, the Saint-Louis plant was able to classify its waste as green waste, so that it can be burned in a cement kiln. The process creates “clinker,” a small rock-like rock-product, which is the first step in cement manufacturing. The clinker is then processed to be one hundred percent cement. This company also transports liquid detergent waste from the plant, using it as raw curtains to make advertising cleaning products, such as floor cleaners and car wash soap advertising.
Internal recycling practices, such as the addition of department-specific color-coded recycling stations at the point of use, also play a key role in helping factories get zero-production waste to landfill.
“We’re shrinking trash volume every day. We started by getting recyclable materials out of the trash and sorting at the point of generation. Today, virtually all of our trash is going to a cement kiln or compost site.” -Gary Deck, Safety Health and Environment Manager at Henkel’s St. Louis plant
Following the lead of the St. Louis plant, Bowling Green began working with the same waste management partner to recycle 60-70% of its laundry detergent and fabric softener sheet waste in the cement-making process. Approximately 7,000 tons of trash have been diverted from landfills since the Zero Waste to Landfill initiative began at Bowling Green in December 2020.
“Burying it in landfills is not a sustainable way to dispose of something, so Zero Waste to Landfill is one of the first major goals we set for ourselves,” says Bryan Dickey, an environmental engineer at Bowling Green. “There are a lot of greater opportunities to manage yourself. “
Next Step: Zero Waste
Henkel North America is making significant progress toward eliminating production waste from landfills across the region, but paints aren’t stopping it. The company will continue to seek strategies to further minimize its impact on the planet, and this is something that Henkel artists and many consumers are proud to support.
“Zero waste to landfill costs more, but it’s the right thing to do,” says Deck. “I’m proud to work for a company that thinks about how we can take care of the planet for our children and grandchildren. “
His colleague from Bowling Green agrees:
“For consumers like me, it’s a little more satisfaction and convenience to know that we’re buying a product from a company that cares about the environment and takes into account the desires of future generations. “