SC Johnson Releases Sustainability Report

SC Johnson today says it has met, and in many cases far exceeded, all of its sustainability objectives for 2011. The company also announced new five-year goals.

“At SC Johnson, we work hard every day to create winning products that use fewer resources, ensure less waste and serve the greater good,” said Fisk Johnson, SC Johnson chairman and CEO. “As we look ahead, we are taking much more of a 360-degree approach to the product lifecycle, including making it easier and more engaging for people to make greener choices and to close the recycling loop.”

This full-circle, 360-degree approach involves understanding the entire product lifecycle from beginning to end, according to SC Johnson. It starts with reducing impacts within the company’s supply chain, continues through manufacturing, to reducing packaging and making products more recyclable. Finally, helping drive greener choices for consumers through education and engagement completes the circle.

Highlights of the 2011 SC Johnson report include:
• The company achieved the 2011 goal to source 40% of the company’s electricity from renewable sources.

• Using its patented Greenlist process, SC Johnson has continued to improve its products. Since 2001, the percent of “better” or “best” ingredients** used in the company’s products increased by 33 percentage points.

• SC Johnson advocated for better chemical regulation and the need to modernize the 35-year-old chemical statute the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in the U.S.

• Along with the global GHG improvements above, by 2010 SC Johnson had reduced its GHG emissions in the U.S. by 27% vs. 2005, far surpassing the goal of 8%.

• SC Johnson announced that it is planning to build wind turbines at its largest worldwide manufacturing facility, Waxdale, which will enable the plant to produce 100% of its electrical energy on-site.

• The company has continued to invest in base-of-the-pyramid development. This includes a partnership to assist pyrethrum farmers in Rwanda and collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support research about insect-borne diseases.

• Once again, SC Johnson also continued to support communities around the world through philanthropy and volunteerism.

What’s Next – The 2016 Plan

The company’s 2011 report also introduces SC Johnson’s next set of five-year sustainability objectives which focus on 360 degrees of green choices. These include:

Continuously Improving Products
• Having already increased use of ingredients rated “better” or “best” from 18% in 2001 to 51% in 2010, increase to 58% by 2016.

Communicating Transparently
• Communicate to the people who buy SC Johnson products about the materials used and the impact of the company’s operations.

Reducing Waste
•Increase post-consumer-recycled content across product packaging to 30%.
• Decrease packaging across product lines by 5%.
• Offset 30% of virgin material use through innovative partnership and packaging advances.

Reducing Carbon Footprint
• Decrease the company’s upstream footprint by 8%.
• Having already reduced greenhouse gas emissions from our worldwide factories 26% since 2000, reduce emissions from SC Johnson operations by another 6%.
• Increase the company’s use of renewable energy to 44% of total electricity use worldwide.
• Decrease downstream footprint by 2%.

Additionally, the company will continue its work to improve lives through infectious disease prevention, efforts at the base of the economic pyramid, and community investment and volunteerism.

“At the end of the day, we all want to make the world a better place for our children and our children’s children,” continued Johnson. “That’s the heart of SC Johnson’s environmental plan, and it’s an aspiration this family company has held dear for 125 years.”