COLGATE-PALMOLIVE
Sustainable supply chains ‘ take time , effort and focus ’ In terms of Colgate ’ s internal journey towards net zero , Corbo says the company is “ continually looking at reducing waste , and has been for a long time ”. The key , he stresses , is measuring waste .
“ We measure many things -- how much electricity and water we use and how much waste we generate , and then we come up with innovative ways to reduce usage .”
He adds : “ I ' m very proud of the fact that we ' ve taken on a zero-waste-to-landfills initiative in our manufacturing operation . We have it certified externally and we are on pace to have all 45 plants certified .”
The certification is from Green Business Certification TRUE Zero Waste , a zerowaste certification programme designed to measure , improve and recognise zero waste performance . Colgate has more TRUE Zero Waste certified facilities than any other company .
“ You ’ d be surprised at how we achieved this ,” says Corbo . “ It sounds kind of silly but we started pretty much by doing dumpster dives - literally rifling through what we were putting in the waste stream .”
“ We began to separate it all and started asking questions . Why is this or that not in the product ? Why isn ' t this being recycled ? What exactly is our waste stream ? This is where you have to start . It takes years and it takes focus . But money and resources we were throwing out in materials doesn ' t get thrown out anymore . It gets reused , repurposed , or put back into the product .”
Building a diverse , best-in-class , people-centric supply chain Colgate strives to create a workplace where everyone is empowered to be their authentic selves . Within Colgate ’ s supply chain , Corbo
says the company has “ been spending a lot of time and focus on diversity for many years ”. He adds : “ In the supply chain , we ' ve increased female representation , especially in manufacturing operations . The first thing we did was recruit a lot of great interns , many of whom were women . Then we exposed them to plant operations , to show that manufacturing could reflect state-ofthe-art and automated facilities .”
76 October 2022