In 2011, Raytheon achieved its highest recycling rate to date, reusing or recycling 68 percent of solid waste generated. Since 2008, the amount of solid waste Raytheon disposed of in landfills and incinerators has been reduced by 30 percent. The company has reduced its solid waste by 45 percent and its hazardous waste by 65 percent since 2004, normalized by revenue.
In 2011, the EPA selected Raytheon as the WasteWise Partner of the Year in the large business category, the report says.
Year-on-year Raytheon has reduced its water consumption by 6.2 percent, from 627 million gallons in 2010 to 288 million gallons in 2011.
The company has reduced its water use by 21 percent from 2008, exceeding its initial 2015 goal of a 10 percent reduction. The company says it achieved these reductions through the use of 43 million gallons of recycled water, updated cooling towers, low-flow fixtures and new landscaping and irrigation techniques.
In November, Raytheon was among a host of companies dropped from the Nasdaq Sustainability Index. The defense contractor, along with Advanced Micro Devices, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Eli Lilly, Petrobras and Shire plc, was dropped from the index that lists leaders in disclosing carbon footprints, energy use, water consumption, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, employee safety, workforce diversity, management composition and community investing.
