Unilever, CSC Sugar Cut Carbon Emissions, Trucking Miles

CSC Sugar helped the Unilever Covington plant cut its CO2 emissions by more than 1.5 million pounds per year by reducing total trucking miles, using of a new short haul trailer and opening a new raw sugar supply route.

In 2014 CSC Sugar relocated its manufacturing facility from Missouri to Covington, Tennessee to reduce the environmental impact of supplying liquid sugar to the Unilever Covington Ice Cream Plant and other regional customers.

Relocating within blocks of the Unilever Covington facility virtually eliminated the 384 truck miles per load of liquid sugar, CSC Sugar says. This alone reduced CO2 emissions by 1.5 million pounds per year.

The new short haul (less than a mile) also allowed for the development of a lightweighted trailer, further reducing total energy expended per delivery. This CSC-designed trailer allows for 40 percent heavier loads, thus reducing deliveries by an equal 40 percent.

The companies also achieved GHG emissions savings by changing the logistics of moving raw cane sugar to the new CSC plant in Covington. Instead of being trucked from the East Coast shipping ports, raw cane sugar is moved up the Mississippi River by barge from New Orleans to Memphis and then trucked to Covington. This new supply route reduces the total miles the raw sugar is transported and replaces truck miles with ship miles, which emit fewer GHGs.

Last month Unilever said it achieved its target of sending zero non-hazardous waste to landfill from its global factory network, avoiding €200 million ($226 million) of costs.