Reduce waste to landfill intensity by 20% across our manufacturing facilities by 2025 (per metric ton of product made).
-18.40%
Waste Reduction
At Kraft Heinz, we think about waste holistically. To source, produce, and package food and beverage products requires several inputs and outputs related to ingredients and byproducts, material flows, and end-of-life packaging considerations. When we think about materials and food-related flows, detailed waste evaluations help us identify where we can ‘prevent, reduce, repurpose, and recycle.’ In fact, our owned global manufacturing facilities divert more than 90 percent of our solid waste to recycling or byproducts usage.
2022 Progress
In 2022, we improved waste intensity by 18.4 percent compared to our 2019 baseline. Our facilities have been steadfast in their waste minimization through the identification and reallocation of waste streams for beneficial use, primarily for food and packaging waste.
We are proud to share that our Elst, Netherlands and Pasuruan, and Indonesia facilities were certified as Zero Waste to Landfill in 2022.
As an example of our positive waste progress, our facility in Pasuruan, Indonesia – where many well-loved favorites from our ABC brand are produced – achieved Zero Waste to Landfill status verified by an independent third-party. The facility diverts its waste to various beneficial uses. For example, all byproducts from the production process (such as soy cake and soy residue) are diverted to the animal feed industry. Unused packaging is recycled and reused where applicable. The facility also initiated an innovative collaboration with Re>Pal, a sustainable pallet manufacturer that creates zero waste pallets by fully utilizing difficult to recycle plastics with their unique ThermoFusion technology. We trialed the use of ABC and Heinz pouches in Re>Pal’s HD1210 pallet which proved to be a success. We are now looking to use these pallets in our own logisitics program.
Reducing Waste with Northstar Recycling
In North America, we work closely with our partner Northstar Recycling to support our journey towards reducing waste to landfill across our manufacturing facilities. In 2022, our Fresno facility diverted approximately 49 metric tons (8 percent of their landfill waste stream) of defective or unusable packaging from the landfill towards beneficial uses. To accomplish this, the team began baling this material and worked with Northstar to identify a recycling stream which converted the packaging into reusable corner board dunnage product. In addition, we also worked extensively to develop ways to prevent sending meat waste to the landfill across four of our other facilities. In the U.S., meat waste must be landfilled by law unless there is an appropriate permit in place with the USDA. We worked together with Northstar to secure the appropriate permits to allow for this waste to be diverted from the landfill and sent to anaerobic digesters and composters for beneficial reuse such as methane capture and soil applications. In 2022 alone, we diverted approximately 1,209 metrics tons of meat waste from the landfill.
Looking Ahead
As we look to the future, we are continuing to prioritize key global facilities for waste elimination. Our facilities continue to seek opportunities to reduce the waste we generate and divert waste for beneficial reuse and other by-products.
We are also focused on improving manufacturing yield and thus reducing and eliminating waste early in the production process.
*Please note that environmental data for years between the base year (2019) and reporting year are not recalculated for acquisitions and divestitures as per our Basis of Reporting for key ESG indicators.
Reducing Food Waste
According to the United Nations Environmental Program, it is estimated that approximately 14 percent of food produced is lost between harvest and retail. Food waste is detrimental to the environment, leading to wasted resources like energy, water, land, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. As the population grows, the pressure on our water, land, and energy will only increase.
Food waste is an important priority at Kraft Heinz. We focus on the entire value chain in terms of where food waste can be reduced. This includes sourcing, production, transportation, shelf life, use, and end-of-life. We analyze and test how processes, products, and packaging can be optimized. We investigate where unneeded byproducts or unwanted finished products can find other uses versus going to landfills, such as beneficial land application and product donations to those in need.
Kraft Heinz has joined together with industry peers to eliminate food waste globally. Kraft Heinz United Kingdom and Kraft Heinz Canada have both joined national commitments to reduce food waste.
U.K.: In the U.K., Kraft Heinz is a member of the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap (FWRR) initiative. Hundreds of food-related organizations have committed to supporting this initiative, which aims to reduce food waste in the U.K. by 50 percent by 2030. The initiative is run by IGD (a food research and training organization) and WRAP (a nonprofit focused on sustainability) to verify data and encourage best practices. Kraft Heinz committed to setting a target for food waste reduction across our own operations towards the broader goal, and to also work in partnership with suppliers and consumers to that end. WRAP committed to report results in 2019, 2022, 2026 and issue a final report in 2031 against the 50 percent reduction goal.
Canada: In Canada, Kraft Heinz has joined seven other companies in a pledge to reduce food waste in operations by 50 percent by 2025. Kraft Heinz will use the globally recognized Food Loss and Waste Accounting and Reporting Standard to report our progress. Kraft Heinz Canada is also a member of Loblaw’s 10x20x30 Initiative, a key effort of the Consumer Goods Forum’s global Coalition of Action on Food Waste.
In 2022, Kraft Heinz joined the Consumer Good Forum (CGF) Food Waste Coalition of Action. CGF is the only CEO-led forum bringing together entities across the consumer goods value chain to foster collaborative engagement across the industry. The aim of the Food Waste Coalition of Action is ‘to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels, and to reduce food losses along production, and supply chains including post- harvest losses.’ Through this membership, Kraft Heinz is working to set a robust food waste strategy and target. Progress on this topic will be shared in future reporting.
1 UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021 https://www.unep.org/resources/report/unep-food-waste-index-report-2021
Diverting Waste in Canada
Our Canada team has been leading the way on diverting food waste in its manufacturing operations. Our Mont Royal facility in Quebec typically generates approximately 3,000 metric tons of waste destined for the landfill each year. To improve its waste profile, the facility completed a full audit of its waste streams. Recognizing that food scraps were a major source of waste, employees were then trained to separate organic food waste so that a clean stream of organic waste could be sent to a bio-digestor that anaerobically digests this waste into biogas for electricity, fuel, and gas production. In 2022, the facility successfully reduced its waste to landfill by 21 percent compared to our 2019 baseline year, ahead of our 2025 waste to landfill target.
