Race for Zero Waste champions in USA

United States – US companies Kraft Foods and Rockwell Automation took home the highest honour in the inaugural Race for Zero Waste competition – a ‘Seal of Excellence’. This accolade was awarded yesterday as it was Earth Day and celebrates that they have ‘the most successful recycling programme’ in the country.

Between participating companies which include Kraft Foods and Plastipak Packaging, almost 11 million pounds of material has been diverted from Illinois landfills alone. ‘This amount is the equivalent of saving approximately 93 000 trees, 38 million gallons of water and 2 million gallons of oil,’ comments event organiser Green Purpose notes. It is now calling on other companies to enter into the second round of the competition which is set to start this week. The first part of the competition started last November.

The two companies that have received the highest Zero Waste title are said to have successfully achieved a waste diversion rate of 90% or higher. Other accolades cover optimising collection schemes and boosting employee participation in recycling.

‘We are excited to begin the next round of the race, which will stretch from that day to America Recycles Day on November 15,’ Green Purpose notes. Registrations for both competitions are said to be ‘filling up quickly’.