Fifteen million babies’ nappies have been composted, as part of a comprehensive sustainability strategy called ‘Our Essential World’, operated by multi-national company Kimberly-Clark. The company is also behind a major recycling drive that has saved 1.6 billion soft plastic items from landfill.
People, planet and product are the strategy’s keywords.
“We aim to work with our customers, consumers and employees, as well as our suppliers, to ensure that we’re leading the world in this space and leaving the world in a better space for future generations,” said Sharna Heinjus, general manager of Kimberly-Clark, in the latest FMCG Leadership Series video, commissioned by the NZ Food & Grocery Council. The series focuses on FMCG leaders and thinkers, sharing their insights and providing ideas for other FGC member companies to apply to their businesses, from health and wellness to talent retention and trends.
In this second chapter, Heinjus explained how sustainability can have a positive impact on a company’s performance. A co-generation facility in Australia, for instance, has managed to cut its carbon emissions by 9.5 percent, whilst increasing productivity by 7.9 percent.
“The number one consumer global trend is ‘going green’,” said Heinjus. “The second thing that our customers tell us is that they want to work with suppliers that are doing the right thing and that are really leading in the sustainability space. And then our employees tell us that they want to work for a company that is leading an agenda of environmental and social responsibility, and Kimberly-Clark is very much that.”
Watch the video:
