Since 2000, Racine-based SC Johnson has reduced greenhouse gas emissions from global manufacturing sites by 50.5 percent, as well as reduced global manufacturing waste by 71 percent. Both surpassed the company’s goal of 48 percent and 70 percent by 2016, respectively.
Those were among the findings in SC Johnson’s recently released 2014 sustainability report, which marks the company’s 23rd year of public sustainability reporting.
Other progress in the third year of SC Johnson’s five-year strategy included that the company now uses 32.3 percent renewable energy globally, nearing its 2016 goal of 33 percent. It also currently has eight zero-landfill manufacturing sites on four continents. (Zero-landfill manufacturing sites eliminate all materials that would be transferred to landfills through reuse and recycling, and, ultimately, without the use of incineration.)
The report also detailed the SC Johnson Greenlist process that was launched in 2001 with the goal of choosing “better” ingredients based on information about their impact on the environment and human health. The process uses a four-point scale to rate ingredients: 3 for “Best,” 2 for “Better,” 1 for “Good” and 0-rated materials whose use is restricted.
When a new product or reformulation is created, SC Johnson works to select raw materials rated “Better” or “Best.” SC Johnson’s goal is to increase, year-on-year, the percentage of its ingredients that has a lower impact on the environment and human health. The company started with 18 percent “Better/Best” ingredients in 2001. Today, it is at 47 percent, and its goal is 58 percent by 2016.
“While there are 4,600 materials we screen for in our product development, the SC Johnson Greenlist process is not simply about eliminating the ‘bad,'” said chairman and chief executive officer Fisk Johnson. “It’s about making it easy for product developers to add in ‘better.’ It’s a systematic, computerized process that helps us continually make better ingredient choices for our products.”
To read the full SC Johnson 2014 Sustainability Report, visit www.scjohnson.com/report.
In other SC Johnson news, the company announced last week that it has earned a perfect score of 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index. The HRC Corporate Equality Index rates companies on a scale of 0 to 100 on their fair treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors. This year marks the 13th consecutive year that SC Johnson has been recognized on the list.
