Procter & Gamble has achieved zero landfill status at 45 of its facilities, marking a major step toward the company’s long-term vision of sending zero manufacturing and consumer waste to landfills. During the past 5 years, P&G’s work to find worth in waste has created more than $1 billion in value for the company.

Among the facilities that have achieved zero landfill status are feminine hygiene plants in Chonan, South Korea, Auburn, ME, Crailsheim, Germany, Budapest, Hungary, Pescara, Italy and Montornes, Spain as well as baby care sites in Cape Giradeau, MO, Eurskirchen, Germany and Jijona, Spain.

Bob McDonald, P&G President, CEO and Chairman of the Board says, “We have a vision for the future, where plants are powered by renewable energy, products are made from recycled and renewable materials and resources are conserved, with no waste going to landfill. Changing the way we see waste as a Company has brought us one step closer to this goal at 45 sites worldwide, where all of our manufacturing waste is recycled, repurposed or converted into energy.”

P&G announced its first zero manufacturing waste to landfill site in Budapest in 2007. Since then, the Company has shared a long-term Environmental Vision, pledging to work toward zero consumer and manufacturing waste worldwide. Through quality assurance, packaging reduction, compaction and recycling efforts, the company now ensures that 99% of all materials entering P&G plants either leaves as finished product or is recycled, reused or converted to energy. Now, as the Company celebrates its 175thyear, less than 1% of all materials entering P&G sites globally leaves as waste.

“P&G is a global leader in sustainability, and the company’s zero manufacturing waste initiative is setting a standard for others to follow,” says Steve Owens, former Assistant Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and member of P&G’S Sustainability and Technical Expert Advisory Panel. “P&G’s efforts are helping protect the environment, conserve precious natural resources, and make our planet cleaner and healthier for our children, families and future generations.”

To drive all sites toward zero, P&G has searched for innovative ways to find value in what was once seen as waste. In Mexico, paper sludge from a Charmin toilet tissue plant is turned into low-cost roof tiles used to build homes in the local community. At a U.S. Pampers site, scrap from the wipe manufacturing process is converted to upholstery filling. And, in the U.K., waste created in the production of Gillette shaving foam is composted then used to grow turf for commercial uses. Learn about these and other innovative reuse stories in the short video “Worth from Waste.”