29 July 2015 – Mars Inc. has released its 2014 sustainability report, Principles in Action. The report highlights the global confectionary giant’s 54% year-on-year increase in renewable energy usage.
The new Mesquite Creek Wind farm in Texas, part of a 118-turbine project, has driven this power surge, providing the equivalent of 12% of Mars’ global energy.
Across the company, total energy consumption fell by 2% in 2014. Mars credits this improvement to regional actions and investments in new technology.
For example, a Mars Chocolate factory in France met 90% of its heating needs by using steam generated by a neighboring waste energy facility.
Another Mars Chocolate factory in Germany conserved water and reduced steam consumption by using a heat pump to reclaim waste heat from the site cooling system.
Mars, which also produces Wrigley’s gum, Pedigree dog food and Uncle Ben’s rice, reports an approximate 10% reduced operating costs from a 2007 baseline due to its energy saving initiatives.
Mars’ Sustainable in a Generation plan, which strives to make the company completely fossil-fuel free by 2040, has been the driving force behind the company’s sustainability initiatives.
Though long-term targets for water and waste have yet to be defined, short-term targets for 2015 have been set to send zero waste to landfill and reduce the company’s water use by 25% from 2007. To date, 79% of Mars sites have achieved zero waste to landfill status and water use has dropped 15% from 2007.
The report acknowledges the struggle of some sites to achieve 2015 sustainability targets and has developed a guide to communicate success stories in order to promote innovation.
Read here for the full sustainability report.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Jul 29, 2015 3am EDT / 12am PDT / 8am BST / 9am CEST