U.S. Foodservice, Primedia, Sealy Save Total Of $16M Cutting Emissions, Waste

February 19, 2009

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Three companies have saved more than $16 million while reducing emissions and waste thanks to a set of analytic tools and metrics developed by a private equity firm and a nonprofit organization.

Last May, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Environmental Defense Fund partnered on the “Green Portfolio Project.” The pilot project aimed to help the buy-out firm improve the environmental performance of the dozens of businesses it owns.

Under the program, U.S. Foodservice implemented new driver policies, businesses processes and truck technologies to improve its operational efficiency and reduce emissions from its delivery fleet. Last year, the company saved $8.2 million in fuel costs and avoided 22,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions. The company improved the efficiency of its fleet by more than 4 percent compared to a 2007 baseline.

Primedia announced that during 2008, it saved $2.9 million in material costs and reduced more than 3,000 tons of paper use. The company improved its efficiency by 22 percent compared to a 2007 baseline.

As for Sealy Corporation, during 2008 the company saved $1.2 million in fuel costs and avoided more than 3,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions by improving the efficiency of its fleet by almost 9 percent, compared to a 2007 baseline. In addition, Sealy saved more than $4 million in material costs and avoided 650 tons of solid waste by reducing scrap per bed by 16 percent compared to a 2007 baseline.

This year, KKR and EDF say they will implement the initiative at four additional companies: Accellent, Biomet, Dollar General and HCA.

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