How can manufacturers help the environment

For food manufacturers, it can generate significant savings. The food industry is highly water-intensive, and manufacturers can save a lot of money by conserving and recycling water in food plants. Food manufacturers can also realize substantial savings by upgrading and managing their transportation fleets for optimal efficiency.

In addition to fuel-saving fleet technology and improved routing, training drivers in efficiency best practices such as idle time reduction can be very effective. Finally, food manufacturers can help the environment — and themselves — by raising awareness. Communicating your sustainability initiatives with consumers and stakeholders helps keep the environment top of mind and inspires others to do their part as well.

At the same time, companies benefit from publicity and increased consumer trust and loyalty. Share Facebook. Sustainability and U. That was the message of three leaders from manufacturing companies located in two. The six manufacturing executives participating in a Sept. Christina, great article. These are very good examples of the benefits of going green to food manufacturers. I will be sure to share this out to others in the industry.

What a great read. I think that some key decision makers view green initiatives as a public relations stunt or priority, albeit a noble one.

By providing concrete numbers on the monetary savings of these efforts, you are helping demonstrate the true value of sustainability investments. Thanks again. SCMEP will be sure to share! Agree with you KAE good article. Wonderful post however I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this subject?

I'd be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit further. JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. Please click here to see any active alerts. A large and growing number of manufacturers are realizing substantial financial and environmental benefits from sustainable business practices.

Sustainable manufacturing is the creation of manufactured products through economically-sound processes that minimize negative environmental impacts while conserving energy and natural resources. Sustainable manufacturing also enhances employee, community and product safety. A growing number of companies are treating "sustainability" as an important objective in their strategy and operations to increase growth and global competitiveness.

This trend has reached well beyond the small niche of those who traditionally positioned themselves as "green," and now includes many prominent businesses across many different industry sectors. In many cases, these efforts are having significant results.

Since the Industrial Revolution , air quality in urban areas has been an ongoing issue. More recently climate change has forced the manufacturing industry to examine its role in consumer culture and the processes that are doing the most damage.

Although many common manufacturing processes contributed to greenhouse gases long before they were discovered as harmful, policies and ethical manufacturers are working to reverse these damages.

For transportation and automotive companies, that means focusing on clean technologies and processes, and supporting efforts for better public transportation systems. Some transportation and automotive companies have been adopting sustainability initiatives for years. Instead of using fossil fuels, companies like BMW have switched much of their manufacturing over to renewable energy sources.

These and other changes in manufacturing processes help to reduce toxins and environmental stress the industry contributes. Changes to the cars themselves have also been a major environmental focus for automakers. Many of the biggest companies have gotten into the electric vehicle market, recognizing that our dependency on oil is both environmentally harmful and unsustainable long-term.