KIMBERLY-CLARK A D VERT ORIA L
KIMBERLY-CLARK
CARING FOR THE PLANET Kimberly-Clark (K-C), makers of Kleenex R , Huggies R , Kotex R and Baby Soft R are an indispensable part of life for people in more than 175 countries. Fueled by ingenuity, creativity, and an understanding of people’s most essential needs, the company creates products that help individuals experience more of what’s important to them and uses
sustainable practices that support a healthy planet, stronger communities, and ensures their business thrives for decades to come. K-C recently announced its 2030 sustainability strategy which will address key social and environmental challenges of the next decade. In South Africa, this strategy comes to life through one of the many initiatives at Enstra Mill, K-C’s mill in Springs. Enstra recently and successfully switched from coal to gas fired boilers, an ambitious project that will deliver a reduction of around 16,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide, and the teams have had to do that whilst maintaining the energy security because the mills run 24/7. Ensuring the gas availability and reliability of supply has been one of the project complexities. The coal phase-out throughout KimberlyClark EMEA is an important milestone for the company’s decarbonisation journey and represents a critical steppingstone towards decarbonising the thermal energy needs of the South-African operations while exploring solutions to decarbonise its electricity needs as well. “The Enstra Mill team have achieved a fantastic accomplishment in phasing out coal in our EMEA operations; despite the significant project complexity, it is a clear kick-off signal of a significant energy transition for Kimberly-Clark in the years to come,” says Oriol Margó, Energy and Climate Leader for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Kimberly-Clark believes in ‘making lives better-with the smallest environmental
footprint’ - a statement that is lived daily by the business, ensuring they control, measure and reduce the impact on the environment. “We monitor our emissions, waste disposal to landfill and use fibre that is sourced responsibly. We do weekly, monthly and annual reporting and we raise non-conformances up to the Global
Environment Team to account when we have deviated from the limits. These ensure that we produce responsibly and that we comply daily,” says Ntokozo Sithole, Enstra Mill Manager. “We are audited every year on environmental and legal compliance by local bodies and can get our systems certification withdrawn if we do not adhere to the company policies and procedures.” Looking to the future for Enstra Mill – there are 5-year plans which include investments in energy conservation, water recycling, reduction of energy usage and using natural energy sources with goals to move to 100% aversion of waste to landfill by 2022. “The drivers are trying to balance providing for human needs while reducing the impact on natural resources by using sustainable development goals, by-laws, company policies and procedures to ensure companies are held accountable,” says Sithole, “corporate responsibilities and reputation are defined and protected by how business conserves the environment. Our sustainability goals are linked to corporate strategies.” The energy transition to decarbonised technologies is probably the biggest of the century following transitions from wood to coal, coal to oil, oil to gas and now gas to renewables and Kimberly-Clark is working hard to make it possible with 2030 goals that have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative which are in line with the latest climate science.
K-C employees from Enstra Mill at a community clean up and tree planting event in Daveyton, Benoni.
CONTACT DETAILS Head Office - South Africa
Kimberly-Clark House, 8 Leicester Road, Bedford Gardens, Bedfordview, Gauteng Telephone: +27 (0) 11 456-5700 Fax: +27 (0) 11 456-5917 Website: kimberly-clark.com/en/
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