No Waste @ Work
A key commitment in Nestlé Year 2 National Packaging Covenant Action Plan was the development and implementation of waste minimisation plans at the shopfloor and office level within Nestlé's factories, warehouses and offices around the country.
This commitment recognises that Nestlé's operational and office facilities do contribute to solid waste generation in their local communities, if only a small percentage of total waste generation. Our sites, as any other commercial and industrial facilities, generate the full spectrum of wastes from material sent to landfill and hazardous wastes through to materials which are recycled and reused.
While waste minimisation initiatives are a commonplace component of workplaces today for both cost and environmental reasons, No Waste @ Work formalises these initiatives and implements them at the shopfloor and office level.
No Waste @ Work was implemented at our Blacktown, Sydney factory and in our head office in Sydney's CBD in 2003. Our Year 3 Action Plan will require operational sites to continue the implementation of the No Waste @ Work program into 2004.
As part of the roll-out of No Waste @ Work, all of our site environmental officers have been through a 1-day train-the-trainer session to equip them to understand the program and then train their site supervisors and department managers in the program.
Working with waste consultancy Waste Audit/Sustainable Learning, Nestlé has developed (and is implementing) its No Waste @ Work waste minimisation program. This program comprises three colour-coded toolkits covering solid waste, energy and water. Each toolkit is designed in two sections. The first section contains the forms which will make up the Waste Minimisation Plan (solid waste, water or energy) for the department, whilst the second contains the information and ideas (the "tools") to assist in the completion of the plan.
The philosophy behind the type of, and structure of the toolkits, is that it is the employees who have the capacity to measure, analyse and implement the changes that will result in a more positive environmental impact. If the employees do not follow established procedures that ensure correct environmental performance, then it affects the company, the environment and the wider community of which they are also a part.
The toolkits are designed as a self-paced learning tool, which introduces users to the basic concepts of waste management and minimisation and reinforces this through observations and activities within their work areas. Each toolkit contains a step-by-step approach to develop the WMP, which consists of 3-4 Tables which are progressively completed. Each Table is supported by one or more Tools. These then lead to the completion of the relevant sections of the waste minimisation plan.
The process for the completion of the Solid Waste Minimisation Plan as contained in the toolkit (and which is similar to the process for the Water and Energy Minimisation Plans) is based on the resource minimisation hierarchy and follows a set of simple steps.