Danone North America Works Toward Zero Waste

Danone Zero Waste

(Credit: Danone North America)

by | Jun 7, 2022

This article is included in these additional categories:

Danone Zero Waste

(Credit: Danone North America)

Danone North America plans to achieve zero waste to landfill across all its facilities by working with third-party partners and local organizations to reuse, recycle, compost, or use for energy recovery all the waste its operations produce.

The food and beverage company says it is enhancing its zero-waste efforts to reach the target by 2025 through updated procedures and increased education at its facilities. Danone North America has already achieved the goal in 15% of its manufacturing sites, according to the company.

Danone North America says it will work with all its facilities to implement zero waste procedures and encourage a circular economy, with the goal of reimagining waste.

One example of the work Danone North America has done to reduce its waste to landfills is at its Minster, Ohio, plant where in 2021 it sent more than 2,500 tons of waste to ShurGreen Farms to be transformed into renewable energy as well as repurposing product packaging. The company says in 2020 it sent less than 5% of its waste throughout its operations to landfills with a goal of 1% or less by 2025.

Reducing waste is a primary sustainability focus for food producers.

Beverage company Oatly is turning oat waste into renewable energy that it uses at its facilities in the US. Six Tyson Foods plants have been recognized by the Environmental Claim Validation Procedure for their zero waste-to-landfill results.

Regulations surrounding organic waste are also gaining traction, such as a law in California that went into effect this year. It requires grocery stores and food distributors to donate 20% of the food it would have otherwise thrown away.

Outside of the food industry, State Farm Arena in Atlanta has diverted at least 90% of its waste from landfills during events at the facility. That included more than 500,000 pounds of waste during NBA games throughout the 2021-22 basketball season.

Danone North America has worked with companies like Veolia ESS and local companies such as Langdon and Sons, Wasatch Resource Recovery and EBI Montreal to reuse or repurpose waste from its operations. The company, which includes brands such as Dannon, Activia and Silk, says the enhanced targets are part of its One Health plan, which includes reducing food loss and waste in its US operations by 50% by 2030 and achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Additional articles you will be interested in.

Stay Informed

Get E+E Leader Articles delivered via Newsletter right to your inbox!

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Share This