Sanitarium

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Sanitarium Sustainability Actions

Turning waste in to resources

We are working to achieve our waste management goals throughout our business, from our large-scale operations, to small staff initiatives. In Australia ... We work with a variety of partners at factories in Australia and New Zealand on organic diversion, reusing our by-products for animal feed or pet food manufacture. Metal waste from maintenance and equipment fabrication is sent for recycling. Metal drums which contained product ingredients are sent for reconditioning to be on-sold or recycled. Plastic drums are recycled for uses like road base pellets and insulated cable. Plastic jars identified in quality control processes during product manufacture are also recycled. Waste oil from the maintenance workshop is pre-treated before being recycled for industrial burner oil, hydraulic oil and in bitumen-based products. We have joined the REDcycle soft plastic recycling scheme, which provides a collection service for soft plastic packaging materials including cereal bags in participating supermarkets throughout Australia. Last year 427 tonnes of soft plastic destined for landfil was recycled. At head office and the Berkeley Vale factory, a continuous improvement team manage and identify new ways to keep waste from landfill, introducing organic recycling bins in the staff canteen and kitchens. We partner with a not-for-profit organisation to reuse uniforms that can no longer be repaired, which are cut up for rags and on sold to the automotive and mechanical industries. Our Carmel and Berkeley Vale factories collect our cardboard boxes from shipping and collapse them for sale or reuse.

Sustainable packaging

The need for recycling is well understood these days – but even so, far too much of the packaging of our food and other products is destined for landfill. Sanitarium’s food policy requires products to be in packaging that supports reduce/reuse/recycle, and is as environmentally benign as possible throughout its lifecycle. The Australian Packaging Covenant (APC) is a voluntary Government and industry initiative to reduce the environmental effects of packaging on the environment. Sanitarium signed the covenant in August 2001 and has been a committed and active participant ever since.

Our environmental promise

Sanitarium believes in honouring, preserving and caring for our world, which in practice means we conduct our business in an environmentally responsible manner to protect the earth and its natural resources. As well as complying with environmental laws and regulations, Sanitarium commits to: - Making environmental concerns an integral part of our planning and decision-making, including our management of natural resources and company-owned facilities. - Encouraging our customers and business partners to consider the environment in all their buying and business decisions, and educating our employees to do the same. - Doing all we can to prevent or fix any negative effects our operations might have on the environment. - Promoting the efficient and cost-effective use of resources. - Keeping to a minimum the creation of waste and use of non-renewable resources. - Ensuring all waste is properly handled and disposed of. - Doing all we can to recycle and reuse waste materials. - Keeping a constant check on the company’s environmental performance through regular reviews and audits.

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