“We are very proud of achieving ‘zero waste to landfill’ in 2015 by finding alternate homes for our waste, creating collaborative partnerships and ultimately creating less waste.”

Mars Australia received the Australian Packaging Covenant’s award for highest performer under KPI 3, for onsite recovery and recycling.

Companies around the world are starting to identify the importance of achieving zero waste to landfill with their manufacturing practices. Mars has a global goal of achieving zero waste to landfill from their manufacturing facilities by the end of 2015. The APC’s award recognises Mars Australia’s strong progress towards this target in 2014, with two manufacturing sites achieving zero waste to landfill, and two more sites approaching this goal.

Mars Petcare reduced waste to landfill from

4,600 tonnes a year to zero!

Key Achievements

• Mars Food decreased the amount of waste sent to landfill from 475 tonnes in 2013 to 188 tonnes in 2014, becoming a zero waste to landfill site in mid-2014.
• Mars Petcare reduced the 4,600 tonnes of waste sent to landfill annually to only 400 tonnes, with Mars Petcare Wodonga becoming a zero waste to landfill site.
• Mars Chocolate Australia reduced from 165 tonnes of landfill in 2014 to 0 in 2015. This was achieved through better recycling at source, partnership with global waste management and finding recyclable non-landfill homes for their waste.

Key Activities

• Conducted audits of their waste to identify more opportunities for recycling.
• Increased employee engagement and education on waste and recycling issues, enabling opportunities to discuss sustainability goals and drive change.
• Worked closely with co-packers and logistics warehouses to reduce and recycle packaging waste off site.
• Established a Recycling Collection Centre at the Mars Petcare Wodonga facility, so that waste can be sorted, processed and bailed for resale onsite.
• Installed a closed loop organic composter at the Mars Petcare Wodonga facility, turning waste food into organic compost.
• Use the services of a waste processer to turn non-recyclable waste into bio-fuel.

“At Mars, we have a global commitment to becoming Sustainable within a Generation. We have an amazing planet and we recognise that we have a responsibility to run our operations in a way that minimises our impact on the environment. In this day and age, given growing populations and greater knowledge of environmental impacts, we need to tackle the issue of waste to landfill. We are very proud of achieving ‘zero waste to landfill’ in 2015 by finding alternate homes for our waste, creating collaborative partnerships and ultimately creating less waste.” Michael Ryan, General Manager for Mars Chocolate