Seventh US Purina plant now sends no waste to landfills

Nestlé Purina’s Oklahoma City manufacturing facility, which produces pet food and treat brands such as Purina Beyond, Friskies, Purina Pro Plan and Beneful, has achieved zero waste to landfill status.

A Purina employee in Oklahoma City prepares discarded packaging materials for recycling. | photo courtesy Purina
A Purina employee in Oklahoma City prepares discarded packaging materials for recycling. | photo courtesy Purina

Nestlé Purina’s Oklahoma City pet food and treat manufacturing facility has achieved zero waste to landfill status, a pet food sustainability milestone. The Oklahoma City facility, which employs approximately 350 people, is Nestlé Purina’s seventh location to achieve this milestone that supports Nestlé’s global commitment to be landfill-free by 2020.

The Oklahoma pet food and treat manufacturing facility produces brands such as Purina Beyond, Friskies, Purina Pro Plan and Beneful. Under Nestlé standards for zero waste to landfill status, a facility’s discarded materials must be directed to destinations that specialize in recovering the ecological and/or economic value of the material.

In Oklahoma City, vendor partners include Covanta, a provider of sustainable waste and energy solutions, Republic Services, a US recycling and non-hazardous solid waste management company, and Minick Materials, a commercial composter.

“We introduce the most efficient technologies and apply best practices to not only minimize waste, but also to optimize energy and water consumption,” said John Bear, vice president of product supply, in a press release.

Purina pet food sustainability plan

Reducing waste is a critical part of Purina’s sustainability roadmap, which attempts to identify how the Company can best add value for the environment and society to make the biggest positive influence. Work continues at other Purina facilities, including offices and distribution centers, across North America to meet the global commitment to achieve zero waste to landfill status by 2020, or sooner. To date, 35 percent of Nestlé Purina factories have met the goal ahead of schedule.

“Our staff here in Oklahoma City has enthusiastically embraced continuous improvement in all that we do, including reducing waste,” said Kris Bilbrey, facility manager, in a press release.

Nestlé Purina’s measures to reduce waste to landfill focus on three key areas: employee engagement; improving processes to minimize generation of waste; and partnerships with credible vendors for composting, recycling, energy recovery, and other forms of beneficial use, in line with Nestlé’s environmental sustainability guidelines and standards. All of Purina’s factories also have externally verified environmental management systems through ISO 14001 certification.

Purina’s “war on waste” began in 2010, and since then the company has reduced waste to landfills at manufacturing facilities in North America by 38 percent.

Purina’s seven landfill-free factories add to the growing number of Nestlé factories in the U.S. to achieve zero waste to landfill status. More information about Purina’s sustainability efforts can be found at www.purina.com/sustainability.

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