Supporting sustainable consumption and stewarding resources for future generations forms a central part of Nestlé’s aim to enhance the quality of life and contribute to a healthier future in Central and West Africa and worldwide.
As the world’s largest food and beverages Company, we seek to reduce water use across our operations, use sustainably managed and renewable resources, and work towards our goal of zero waste by 2030, in line with the timescale of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
We are looking to do this by focusing our work on three areas, including caring for water, acting on climate change and safeguarding the environment. We are truly proud of our employees who work to ensure these commitments come to life.
Our work is part of our three long-term ambitions and 42 commitments for 2030, which were recently announced in the new report ‘Nestlé in society: Creating Shared Value and meeting our commitments 2016’.
World Environment Day
Our efforts to meet these ambitions and commitments in Central and West Africa highlight the importance of World Environment Day on June 5, which aims to spotlight positive environmental action across the globe. This year’s theme, Connecting People to Nature, encourages us all to ‘take forward the call to protect the Earth that we share’.
Tackling climate change
As part of protecting the planet, we are committed to provide climate change leadership to help reduce emissions along our value chain, strengthen our supply chain and help the farmers who we work with be more resilient to climate change.
In the region, we’ve cut our greenhouse gas emissions by 29% per tonne of product since 2010.
For example, at our Agbara factory in Nigeria, the tri-generation power plant generates electrical power as prime energy, while recycling the heat generated from its exhaust gases produces chilled and hot water. This has reduced CO2 emissions by about 5,000 tonnes per year since its construction in 2012.
We are making progress in adapting to climate change by using our scientific expertise and resources to help improve crop resilience.
The Nestlé Research and Development (R&D) Centre in Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire is working with the Nestlé R&D Centre in Tours, France and other research institutes, as part of the Nescafé Plan and the Nestlé Cocoa Plan to produce drought-resistant varieties of cocoa and coffee plantlets, which are less vulnerable to disease and result in greater yields.
Energy savings
In backing our climate change commitment, we have also reduced energy consumption by 29% per tonne of product since 2010.
For example at our Yopougon factory in Côte d’Ivoire, we’ve achieved annual energy savings of over 7,200 GJ and 562 tonnes of CO2 emission reductions by using natural gas at the site.
In Senegal, we’ve also saved 60,000 kWh of energy each year at our factory in Dakar – about 3% of the total energy consumption of the site – by using solar panels to heat water.
Treating waste water
We aim to treat the water we discharge effectively in a responsible manner and meet strict quality requirements to return it to the environment.
At our Douala factory in Cameroon, we installed the oxycon biological treatment and effluent polishing plant to filter waste water from our operations. This ensures that only clean water is returned to the environment and produces minimal chemical oxygen demand.
In Ghana, we invested in an Ultra Filtration-Reverse Osmosis system at our Tema factory to improve the quality of waste water. Edward Dawutey, from the Engineering Department of the Tema Factory is happy that through efficient waste water treatment system, we are able to improve the environmental footprints of the factory. ‘The system also enables us to reuse 30% of effluent for non-core activities, reducing the total factory water consumption by 10%”, he says with pride.
Recycling waste
As part of our commitment to reduce food loss and waste, we’re also finding new and innovative ways to recycle waste.
At our Yopougon site in Côte d’Ivoire, we’re reusing canteen waste into compost, and used cartons are being recycled into egg crates.
Saving packaging
We’re also committed to improving the environmental performance of our packaging to prevent food waste, guarantee our high-quality standards and continue to inform our consumers.
In 2015, we saved 44 tonnes of packaging in Central and West Africa. At our sites in Nigeria and Ghana, we have moved from using paper and laminate to monofilm in our Milo Choco cubes, saving 60 tonnes of material each year.
Nestlé Waters in Nigeria renovated its 60cl and 150cl bottles, which resulted in a saving of 172 tonnes of PET bottles and 43 tonnes of PET caps in just one year.
Environmentally certified
Marie Francoise Diouf, Safety, Health and Environment Manager for Nestlé Central and West Africa region works everyday to ensure that we can shape sustainable consumption and steward resources for future generations. Across the region, 100% of our manufacturing sites are ISO 14001 certified”. This certification is awarded to a company or organisation that sets out criteria and maps out a framework to follow an effective environmental management system.
Read more about our commitment to the environment in the Nestlé in society global report 2016 (English PDF).