Clorox reduced its normalized greenhouse gas emissions by 4.2 percent in 2011, according to the company's latest combined annual and sustainability report and supporting documentation.
In 2010, Clorox produced 1,240 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per million cases of product sold. In 2011, this figure fell to 1,190, figures from Clorox's corporate responsibility web site show. The 2011 figure represents a 16 percent improvement over the company's 2007 baseline year, the report says. Clorox was targeting a 10 percent improvement in this metric over 2007 levels, and it met this target in 2010.
The company's absolute carbon emissions dropped almost 3 percent year-on-year, from 520,000 metric tons of CO2e in 2010 to 505,000 metric tons of CO2e in 2011. Since the 2007 baseline year, Clorox's absolute carbon emissions have dropped around 14 percent, figures show. The majority of the savings have been made in cuts in the company's scope 3, distribution-related emissions.
Clorox has moved more than 30 percent of its finished goods shipment miles from trucks to more efficient rail. Of its remaining truck miles, 95 percent use more efficient EPA-designated SmartWay carriers, the report says. The company has also focused on reducing the weight of its packaging. For example, Clorox says its has moved from heavy plastic pails to boxes and bags in its cat litter business, concentrated products like its Clorox 2 stain remover, and, in El Salvador and Guatemala, shifted Poett cleaners to pouches that use one-sixth the resin of a bottle, the report says.
More than 60 percent of the company's greenhouse gas emissions come from biogenic sources associated with the use of wood scrap as an energy source in its Kingsford brand charcoal manufacturing operations. Biogenic greenhouse gas emissions - that is, from wood and other biofuels - are considered part of the natural carbon cycle, and are therefore excluded from reportable carbon-footprint calculations, but Clorox reports them anyway, the report says.
Despite progress on its carbon goals, both the company's normalized and absolute energy use metrics have increased. In 2010 the company used 1.71 MWh of energy per million cases of product. In 2011 this figure jumped 1.9 percent to 1.81 MWh, figures from the company's corporate responsibility web site show. The company's absolute energy use jumped 3.5 percent year-on-year, from 743,000 MWh in 2010 to 769,000 MWh in 2011. Clorox hopes to reduce its energy use by 10 percent per case of product sold from 2007 to 2013. It has reduced this metric six percent to date, the report says.
As part of its energy reduction efforts, Clorox has replaced almost 100,000 lights with efficient lighting at all of its North American manufacturing and distribution facilities.The company also completed energy audits at most of its plants in the US and Latin America in the last year. These audits have uncovered a number of ideas that the company says will help it move towards its 2013 goal.
The company's absolute water use figures increased 1.8 percent year-on-year, but its normalized water use stayed almost static over that time period, increasing 0.3 percent. The company was targeting a 10 percent reduction in its normalized water use by 2013 over 2007 levels. This metric has improved 14 percent since 2007, meaning Clorox has already surpassed this target. The company has pledged to lower its water consumption by an additional 10 percent by 2017, the report says.
This year Clorox joined the Corporate Eco Forum, a group of companies trying to take a progressive stance on sustainability, in making commitments to protect natural capital.
Clorox's normalized waste-to-landfill figure dropped 17 percent year-on-year. Since 2007 this metric has improved by 27 percent. The company was targeting a 20 percent improvement over 2007 levels by 2013.
Some 11 Clorox sites have held "dumpster dives" to separate trash from recycling and compost items. The company says that these dives have led to lasting awareness and actions that are reducing landfill waste by more than half, on average, at each of these sites. The company's three Burt’s Bees facilities continued to run as zero waste-to-landfill sites. Since 2010, the company's Spring Hill, Kan., facility has reduced solid waste to landfill by 82 percent, by taking steps to reclaim clay and dust.
In February last year, Clorox laid claim to being the first company in its industry to disclose preservatives and dyes in all U.S. and Canadian cleaning, disinfecting and laundry products. The disclosures built on Clorox’s existing practice of listing active ingredients, information that it has provided to customers for two years.
