NESTLÉ:CONFECTIONERY maker Nestlé plans to save £120,000 a year after becoming a zero-waste manufacturer four years ahead of schedule at a UK factory which makes its best-selling KitKats and Aero bars.
While two other UK factories have already achieved zero-waste status, its facility in York has generated the substantial savings in three ways.
The majority came from the reduction in landfill tax costs for dumping waste that couldn’t be recycled and a 70 per cent saving in the number of skips required. It also sold nearly 800 tonnes of recovered material.
The firm has also reduced its UK and Ireland water footprint by 36 per cent and reduced the size of packaging used in Easter eggs, Christmas selection boxes and smaller items.
The process is continuing at its Fawdon factory in Newcastle, where it is trialling a range of new sustainability concepts and technologies which aim to make it zero-waste over the next two years.