Minimizing Resource Use

Beyond our LEED facilities, we are committed to reducing water use, energy use and waste across our organization.

Water Use

As a business dependent on the availability of water, we are sensitive to the importance of using it as efficiently as possible. In 2007, we reduced water consumption in our factories (not including water used in our product) by 1.3%. We were able to achieve this while increasing production volume by 10%. Today, Nestlé Waters is one of the most efficient water users in the beverage industry. It takes us 1.37 gallons of water to produce one gallon of spring water, compared to three gallons of water used to make one gallon of a soft drink and five gallons of water to make one gallon of beer. Soft drinks and beer actually require much more water to produce if the agricultural impacts of sugar and barley are included.

Energy & Emissions
While Nestlé Waters primarily uses energy to tanker water, manufacture our bottles and operate our HOD fleet, our suppliers use energy to make PET resin and contract carriers use energy to ship our products to market. In 2007, we conducted our first greenhouse gas inventory. This inventory, using 2006 data, goes beyond our owned and operated facilities and fleets (Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions) to include transportation impacts from contract carriers (Scope 3 emissions). Separately, we went beyond this analysis and used publicly available data to estimate the embedded carbon in the PET resin we buy for our bottles.

Together, we found that our 2006 direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions totaled 1,696 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e). The results showed that the carbon embedded in PET resin has the greatest impact, accounting for just over half of our corporate greenhouse gas emissions. This shows the significance of the Eco-Shape® project. By lightweighting these half-liter bottles over fiscal years 2007 and 2008, we will use 140 million fewer pounds of plastic resin, reduce our PET GHG intensity by more than 12%, and avoid 260,000 metric tons of GHG emissions. This is equivalent to taking more than 57,000 passenger cars off the road for one year.  Approximately 23% of our total GHG emissions were generated by transportation.

We have also initiated a number of other activities in our manufacturing and logistics operations, including contract carriers, to manage and reduce energy use. Our energy reduction efforts include:

On-site bottle production: We produce 98% of our bottles in our own plants. While this increases energy use in plants, it virtually eliminates transport of empty bottles (many other beverage companies do not manufacture bottles on site). This saves an estimated 6.6 million gallons of fuel, while eliminating, 200 metric tons of CO2e emissions from 160,000 truck loads annually.

Direct shipping: 80% of our products are shipped directly from our plants to retailers. Due to these efforts, only 20% of our product is stored in off-site warehouses, reducing energy use for transport and facilities.

Regional distribution: With the exception of our international water brands, we take a regional approach to distribution—our U.S. brands, representing 91.5% of our retail revenue, are primarily sold in a single geographical region. Even in the case of our national brand, Nestlé® Pure Life®, we locate our plants close to major markets. In 2007, the average shipping distance was 350 miles from source to shelf. This practice avoids long shipping distances and reduces truck miles, fuel use and emissions. Our contract carriers have also worked to reduce the length of their distribution routes. In 2006, this effort, combined with increasing the amount carried on each truck, avoided 11,000 metric tons of CO2e emissions annually compared to 2001.

Lightweight carrier equipment and heavyloading: We have worked with our vendors to reduce the weight of our carrier equipment and increased tanker sizes, so that we can fit more water on each truck. For instance, in Pennsylvania, we upgraded our tanker size from 6,500 to 8,200 gallons, resulting in the reduction of 800,000 truck or “water” miles and a 26% decrease in truck traffic. Similar upgrades by our Canadian carriers in 2005 resulted in a 24% decrease in CO2 emissions annually since 2002.

Route maximization: For our HOD trucks, we use sophisticated software to maximize the density of customers per route. This enabled us to eliminate 777,872 water miles, saving 167,404 gallons of fuel per year. For our contracted carriers, we design distribution routes to be as short as possible, while having the least impact on local communities. In the past two years, these efforts led to a decrease of 31 miles per route.

Backloading: We collaborate with our customers’ carriers to coordinate backhaul deliveries, reducing truck miles.
Sea-freight payload maximization: We have increased the pallet size for our imported brands, allowing us to ship 884 fewer containers and avoid 4,800 metric tons of CO2e emissions in 2007, an 18% decrease from 2006.

Waste

Nestlé Waters focuses on managing our waste streams to minimize the need for solid-waste disposal, saving us money and reducing environmental impacts. While inadequate municipal and business-based programs can make it inconvenient for consumers to recycle, we can exercise more control in our own manufacturing facilities. Since 1999, in-plant recycling rates have increased by 28%, eliminating 53 million pounds of waste from landfills. At each plant, we recycle cardboard, resell boxes, rejected bottles, bottle pre-forms, low-density polyethylene films, shrink-wrap and pallet strapping. In 2007, we recycled 86% of our solid waste.

We also participate in the EPA’s Safety-Kleen Program in our HOD fleet shops. This program mandates strict rules for the washing and servicing of fleet vehicles. Safety-Kleen picks up all of our used waste oils, transmission fluids and rags or pads for proper refinement or disposal.

We believe we have the lightest environmental footprint per unit of product in the packaged beverage industry. Our goal is to track key environmental metrics throughout our product lifecycle, so that we can continue to reduce our impacts. Currently, our metrics include data from the following stages in our product lifecycle:

• Water Use: Includes water from our sources and used in our manufacturing processes
• Energy Use: Includes energy used in our manufacturing processes and to blow our PET bottles
• CO2 Emissions: Includes emissions from our manufacturing processes
• Waste Management: Includes waste generated at our manufacturing plants
• Recycling: Includes recycled materials salvaged from our manufacturing plants

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Corporate Citizenship

Our Commitment to Corporate Citizenship

Promoting Health and Hydration

Ensuring Water Quality and Providing Clean Water When Supplies are Interrupted

Managing Water Resources for Long-Term Sustainability

Developing Sustainable Packaging Solutions

Being a Good Neighbor

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