Editor’s Note this article is published in Fast Magazine BY Ariel Schwartz
Tue Sep 28, 2010
Pantene, Pringles, and Pampers may not seem like the most sustainability-oriented brands on the market. But parent company Procter & Gamble is making a notable effort at ramping up its environmentally friendly practices: The world’s largest consumer products company unveiled a Sustainability Vision plan this week, outlining a number of impressive goals for both the near and long-term.
P&G’s long-term goals include using 100% renewable or recycled materials for all products and packaging, having zero consumer and manufacturing waste go to landfills, powering plants with 100% renewable energy, and emitting zero carbon dioxide emissions. Lofty goals to be sure, but the company plans to reach its milestones in 10-year increments.
The first set of incremental goals (for 2020), include replacing 25% of petroleum-sourced raw materials with renewable materials, powering operations with 30% renewable energy, cutting manufacturing waste to under 0.5%, and cutting packaging by 20% per consumer use. P&G hasn’t yet revealed the next set of goals, but it plans to announce progress on the 2020 goals each year.
P&G is far from the first multinational corporation to announce ambitious sustainability goals. But unlike companies such as Walmart and Colgate-Palmolive, P&G’s big goals have incremental, manageable timelines. The corporation is also well on its way to smaller green goals–Procter & Gamble’s previously announced 2012 goals include $20 billion in cumulative sales of products with low eco-impacts and a 20% reduction (per unit production) in total CO2 emissions, energy consumption, water consumption and disposed waste from P&G plants.