Kraft Foods to invest $4 million on waste management

MANILA, Philippines –  Kraft Foods Philippines Inc. plans to invest up to $4 million from 2011 to 2015 to further upgrade its water, energy and waste management programs, according to Gautam Pal, operations manager for the Philippines.

In an interview Friday following the awarding of Kraft Foods Philippines by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for its environmental performance, Pal disclosed that Kraft Foods invested a total $10 million in the Philippines last year alone for its manufacturing operations.

For 2011, Pal refused to reveal yet how much Kraft Foods intends to invest in its local operations.

Kraft Foods Philippines, Pal said, locally manufactures cheese products that include Kraft cheese, Eden cheese and Chiz Wiz. It also manufactures the Kraft mayonnaise locally.

In fact, Pal said, Kraft just expanded its cheese lines this year. Further expansion plans, Pal said, are still being studied.

“We would do that as we see opportunities. We are continuous in expansion, “ Pal assured.

Kraft Foods, likewise, distributes other products that include the Cadbury confectionary line, Nabisco biscuits, Oreo biscuits, Maxwell House coffee to name a few.

Kraft Foods is the second largest food and beverage company in the world. It is a $54-billion company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Kraft, Pal said, is part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index which includes only 30 sustainability driven companies.

As such, Pal said, “our goals as part of that is less energy consumption, less water consumption and waste reduction.

“By 2011, we will reduce all parameters by 25 percent from 2005 levels,” Pal said.

However, he boasted, “in 2009 we already achieved a 25-percent reduction.

Kraft, Pal said, invested up to $3 million from 2008 to 2010 for “technical investments.”

These “technical investments,” Pal explained, include change to high efficiency motors.

“We optimize the use of chilling facilities. Our goal year-on-year rate is 10 percent reduction. We also have a water harvesting system. We have big initiatives. We also use solar power in our plant. We also use LED in our lighting devices,” Pal said.

Kraft Foods, as a company, Pal emphasized, “see sustainability is a must. So we have to ask? What is our responsibility to the society? What is our responsibility to the environment and what is to the economy.”

Going forward to the next five years, 2011-2015, Pal said, “our ambition is to invest around another $3 to $4 million.”

“We still have a lot of sustainability projects. We have a roadmap for sustainability,” he said.

The additional investment, Pal said, would “mainly be for water, and then a part for zero waste management— so we have zero waste discharge, also for energy how to make it recyclable.”