ConAgra Foods, Nestle, And Unilever Are Finding Savings Through Sustainability

By Karla Paris

Food manufacturers are reducing waste, conserving resources, and endearing employees by implementing ideas generated by their workforce

Are your employees driven enough to help drive corporate initiatives that save your business money? If not, you might want to take a look at what ConAgra Foods, Nestle, and Unilever are doing to put their employees’ ingenuity into action.

ConAgra Foods recently announced the winners of its 2014 Sustainable Development Awards, a program that has saved its business more than $30 million, and challenges its employees to develop and implement initiatives that impact the company’s bottom line.  ConAgra Foods received 85 entries for this year’s awards. Its award winners helped ConAgra Foods to:

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 9,500 metric tons
• Reduce landfill waste by 10,500 tons
• Optimize and improved packaging, while using 7.8 million pounds less material
• Conserve more than 820 million gallons of water

ConAgra Foods is not alone in finding big savings through employee-based sustainability initiatives. Both Nestle and Unilever are finding savings by engaging employees in the battle for sustainability.

Nestle is committed to sustainability and is ensuring its employees are actively engaged with its corporate efforts. Employees regularly communicate progress, performance, and good practices with management and vice-versa. In 2013, Nestlé’s sustainability efforts yielded:

• A reduction in packaging material of 66,594 tons
• An overall water consumption reduced by 33% per ton of product
• An absolute reduction in direct GHG emissions of 7.4%

While ConAgra Foods and Nestle are growing sustainability, Unilever is preparing to report its environmental footprint.

Unilever will be releasing its complete Sustainable Living Report for 2013 next month. Much of what Unilever sees in terms of sustainability comes from its employees.  Whether it’s a maintenance planner, creating a new design to improve the factory’s main conveyor system, or an office manager establishing a “Save Energy” committee to promote energy-savings ideas to fellow employees, Unilever is seeing the impact. In 2013, Unilever saw:

• A reduction in water abstraction of 29% per ton of production, despite the growth in production,
• A reduction in total waste sent for disposal of 66% per ton of production, and
• A reduction in its total footprint from packaging waste to landfill was reduced by 11% as a result of more efficient packaging.

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Overall, it is clear that manufacturers using creative and science-based solutions are achieving sustainability goals efficiently than those not thinking proactively. Who will be the next major food company to boost its sustainability goals and lower its carbon footprint through unique methods?