UNILEVER HAS revealed that innovations such as using waste marmite to make energy has helped the company’s factories to save more than a million tonnes of CO2 and €244m since 2008.
The carbon savings came from a 20% reduction in energy consumption across the consumer goods giant’s manufacturing sites. The energy reduction strategy also led to €244m of savings.
Some of the savings came from finding innovative, circular solutions to issues such as waste. These included using a byproduct of the seed oil from Flora as a fuel in the factory’s boilers in South Africa. In the UK, 18,000 tonnes of solid Marmite waste was converted into methane via anaerobic digestion to provide 30% of the factory’s thermal energy.
The company has now made commitment to using 100% renewable energy across its business operations, joining Ikea, Nestle and Mars in signing up to the RE100 (100% renewable energy) campaign.