Waste and packaging

Solid waste

At Cadbury Schweppes our waste management programme aims to minimise the amount of waste we produce through our operations, which in turn maximises our production yield and improves the Company's profitability.

The programme also ensures we dispose of the highest possible proportion of our waste usefully, either through re-use or recycling, and that we keep the proportion we send to landfill to a minimum. We produce very little hazardous waste - less than 0.5% of our total solid waste.

Key Performance Indicators set up as part of our waste management programme show a trend in reduction of the level of solid waste produced by our businesses.

We have an aspirational group-wide target of reducing our solid waste (per tonne finished product) by 10% from 2006 to 2010.

Packaging

The types of packaging we use to protect and secure our confectionery and beverages in storage, during transportation, and on display in our customers' stores, are very important. Packaging and reducing packaging waste are environmental concerns for us and many of our consumers.

We are committed to using 100% recoverable or biodegradable packaging by 2010. We will use innovation and work with others to achieve this.

Packaging management in the US

Our Americas Beverages business has been able to remove 3.7 million pounds of weight in plastic each year from its supply chain in the USA, saving both resources, consumer waste and over US$ 5 million a year simply through re-designing some of our Hawaiian Punch packaging.

Without compromising high standards of quality or safety, the team developed a lighter bottle for the brand's family gallon size and re-engineered the handles of all the different sizes of Hawaiian Punch bottles. As an added bonus, our consumers tell us they like the new bottle because it is lighter and easier to carry.

Reducing incineration in India - better waste management

At Cadbury Thane near Mumbai, India, a dedicated team working on a waste management project has succeeded in eliminating the need to send the factory's waste for incineration and has improved the plant's recycling rate.

At the beginning of 2005, the factory's solid waste recycling rate was around 68% with the remaining 32% being incinerated. Project Incinerator Phase Out looked at detailed analyses of the waste being generated, how it was being identified and segregated, as well as evaluation and disposal methods. Once the team's investigations were complete, a contractor licensed by the Indian government and that met our global EHS Standards, was appointed to recommend alternative solutions to incineration.

As a result, the factory no longer needed to burn any of its waste in 2005. Through its involvement with the project the team has increased its knowledge on waste generation and is now working on a further programme looking at how the actual generation of waste can be reduced.