Big Heart Pet Brands’ Milk-Bone bakery in Buffalo, New York, has sent zero waste to landfill for five years, reducing its CO2 emissions by more than 18,000 tons.
Since 2008, Milk-Bone has recycled more than 21 million pounds of materials via its zero landfill initiative. This has saved more than 18 million kWh of electricity, 17 million gallons of water, 9,000 barrels of oil, 45,000 mature trees and more than 15,000 cubic yards of landfill space.
In 2008, the facility started a recycling initiative in day-to-day operations which eventually led to a partnership with Covanta, a sustainable waste and energy company. This partnership has resulted in a program that takes waste from the Milk-Bone bakery to Covanta, where it’s converted to electrical energy via Covanta’s waste-to-energy process.
In November Nestlé said its on-site anaerobic digestion plant is supplying about 8 percent of the factory’s electricity demand and has eliminated its solid waste handling costs one year after commissioning.
