PepsiCo Gatorade Plant in Tolleson, AZ
Reaching an impressive two percent trash-to-landfill goal without relying on incineration, the Gatorade Plant in Tolleson, AZ demonstrates that "keeping your eye on the prize" really works. According to Paul Holzman, Heath Safety Environmental Manager (HSE) at the PBC plant, "by setting a goal and wanting to achieve that goal, it's amazing how quickly you can get there."
In March of 2012, the Tolleson hotfill plant began working closely with Waste Management to decrease landfill and assure they would meet the goal of <1% waste landfilled by 2015. The seemingly daunting task started with identifying all the plant's waste streams, that were generated in the plant, and assuring they were recycled. With the goal in place, several of PepsiCo's Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) including RISE (Native American ERG), the Women's Inclusion Network (WIN), and MOSAIC (African American ERG) hosted events that raised awareness and re-energized the Zero Landfill program.
Paul shares that for the Zero Landfill program to really work, "the efforts must be part of the culture, easy to execute, and everyone must be held accountable." Supporting sustainability within the plant's culture includes ongoing educational efforts like One Point Lessons (OPLs) and communicating the results to employees via pillar boards stationed throughout the plant, as well as the weekly internal newsletter, Que Pasa.
To stay on track, the Tolleson Gatorade site used the 5 S's program to implement and sustain the program. The 5's are as follows:
- Set out the proper collection receptacles.
- Sort materials to increase recycling revenue.
- Shine the recycling collection areas, keeping them neat and clean.
- Standardize containers for specific materials throughout the plant.
- Sustain the momentum...in other words...Keep it up!
To further improve recycling, the plant added a new bottle perforator in 2012. Perforating and emptying full products onsite allows the plant to recycle the bottles without the added expense and environmental impact of transporting the full products.
With these relatively simple changes and dedicated teamwork, Tolleson Gatorade reduced the amount of waste landfilled from 38% in 2011 to 16% in 2013. A 915 ton decrease in waste landfilled. They are in great position to achieve the 2015 goal!
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