ONE PLANET. ONE HEALTH

A look inside Danone’s specialized nutrition plant in Brazil, certified on the three environmental goals of carbon, water and waste

24/08/2021

Located in Poços de Caldas near São Paulo in Brazil it is the first plant in Danone’s manufacturing network to be certified by the Carbon Trust on the three environmental goals of carbon neutrality, water reduction and zero-waste to landfill.

Poços de Caldas in Brazil, Danone Manufacturing

Reduce environmental impact and embrace circularity

Making sure the production plant met the targets required to achieve this significant triple-success required a joined-up approach which was divided into three key areas for action:

Pocos de Caldas - Danone Manufacturing - parking

1. Curbing carbon emissions

We significantly reduced the plant’s energy related CO2 emissions by installing over 1,500 solar panels covering the plant’s parking area and external walkways with the rest of power needed for production at the site being generated through 100% renewable electricity. We addressed remaining emissions including employees’ commutes by supporting local forest conservation projects.

Pocos de Caldas Danone Brazil Manufaturing - state-of-the-art rainwater collection and treatment system

2. Reduce water consumption

We installed a state-of-the-art rainwater collection and treatment system that ensures the plant is self-sufficient; harvesting enough fresh rainwater each year to meet the production site’s needs. It consists of collecting sufficient rainwater enabling the plant to avoid taking water from the soil, river or city and be self-sufficient regarding its water consumption.

Water is also safe for employees to drink!

3. Ensuring zero-waste goes to landfill

We took actions to progressively reduce our waste production to the point that the site no longer sends waste to landfill with 100% of our remaining waste streams being either reused, recycled or recovered.

Reduce environmental impact and embrace circularity

The Danone Brazil team is working in partnership with local experts to ensure its sustainability efforts support local communities and their environmental projects. We teamed up with BioFilica, a Brazilian company focused on forest management and conservation, who help us address our emissions in a way that supports biodiversity and local communities in rainforest environments through a REDD+ forest scheme. This means we are not only reducing our emission from deforestation and forest degradation but doing so in a way that prioritizes conservation and sustainable management, with the aim of enhancing forests’ ability to store carbon.

This triple success is another milestone in our long-term journey to reduce our environmental impact and achieve zero net carbon emissions by 2050.

It is our ambition that all Danone production sites follow in the footsteps of this achievement in Brazil.

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