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Imagine a manufacturing and distribution facility the size of 14 football fields that sends absolutely no waste to a landfill. It’s hard to believe, but that’s just one of the environmental contributions made by the L’Oréal USA cosmetics plant on Interstate 40 in North Little Rock.

The feat’s even more remarkable considering that the plant’s 700 employees work in shifts around the clock every day of the year making mascara, cosmetic powders and nail care products that are shipped world-wide, most under the Maybelline brand name.

The achievement has come to be expected by the leaders of Paris-based L’Oréal. Company-wide, the global cosmetics leader recovered all but 5 percent of its waste between 2003 and 2007. The 800,000-square-foot North Little Rock plant is just a part of L’Oreal’s comprehensive plan to set an authentic example in terms of sustainable development.

How They Do It

“Environmental improvement is not just a top-down driven goal. It’s the responsibility of every employee,” said Richard Jones, vice president of manufacturing at the North Little Rock facility.

For example, employees in each operational department perform a loss analysis to identify the largest sources of waste in their area. These opportunities are prioritized, and the appropriate resources are allocated to eliminate the losses. Subscribing to the philosophy of “what gets measured gets improved,” the facility was able to find more sources of waste.

From there, L’Oréal employs the “reduce, reuse, recycle” philosophy, and constant reminders of it are posted across the plant. The company and its suppliers collaborate to design packaging that uses less material but still protects the jars, brushes and other products from scratching and other quality defects. Bulk shipments are packaged in Gaylord boxes, which fold flat after use and can be re-used a number of times.

The last line of defense is recycling. If an item cannot be reused, the facility finds recycling outlets for the material. “While it may no longer be of use to us, it may be a valuable raw material to someone else,” said David Lovejoy, the plant’s engineering director. Items that cannot be reduced, recycled or reused are sent to an incinerator for production of energy and heat.

“These and other efforts have resulted in 100 percent waste recovery for ?Maybelline’s manufacturing—which means nothing is sent to a landfill,” Jones said.

Saving Electricity and Money

International standards for environ-mental management guide the plant, Lovejoy said. To reduce electricity consumption, the plant developed a program consisting of 20 action items for 2008, including registering with the Department of Energy to get a free energy audit. As a result, a local university was assigned to audit the plant and provide recommendations ranging from installing LED bulbs in exit signs to additional insulation around boilers.

The list of measures is admirable. The plant began a comprehensive upgrade of light fixtures to include occupancy sensors that only turn the lights on and off when needed. An incentives program was implemented to encourage workers to shut down idle equipment. And automating the controls on the plant’s HVAC equipment registered a healthy return on the investment, Lovejoy said.

L’Oréal also focused its attention on its air compressor, upgrading from a constant speed model to a variable speed one. Air compressor leak studies also helped the plant save money.

“Electricity savings help the bottom line,” Lovejoy said. “In 2008, the site saved in excess of $100,000 as a result of our ?energy conservation programs.”

For the environment, L’Oréal’s electricity measures are even sweeter. The facility ?recently entered an agreement to purchase all of its electricity from a renewable resource — North Little Rock’s hydroelectric plant on the Arkansas River.

“We are the biggest customer for North Little Rock’s electricity, purchasing about 20,000 megawatts per year,” Jones said. “This will help us to reduce our carbon footprint by acquiring all of our electricity from hydro-power. All of our electricity will be green electricity.”

A Team Effort With Results

In 2008, the facility formed a Consumption Task Force staffed by employees from each functional area.

An analysis of rinse cycles in manufacturing areas gave way to continuous improvements that have reduced the plant’s water consumption while maintaining quality standards. Awareness and employee training are the key to water conservation, Lovejoy said. Team boards in each department are updated monthly to report key performance indicators, including environmental performance.

“Employees are encouraged to ask questions about the indicators and not only provide improvement ideas, but also own the implementation of those ideas as part of their annual performance plan,” Lovejoy said. “It’s all about setting the right expectations, empowering the workforce, then celebrating the successes.”

In June 2008, L’Oréal’s corporate head-quarters issued its “Sustainable Develop-ment Report,” which documented L’Oréal’s efforts to improve environmental, social and ethical performance between 2003 and 2007. L’Oréal, which has 63,358 employees worldwide producing 25 global brands in more than 130 countries, revealed that globally the company had:

• Reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 24 percent.

• Reduced energy use by 17 percent.

• Reduced water consumption by 23 percent.

• Reduced waste generation by 26 percent.

• Achieved a 95 percent waste recovery rate.

• Reduced packaging material by 13 percent.

• Introduced a target for all paper and board used in packaging to come from sustainable managed forests.

Closer to home, the North Little Rock facility in 2008:

• Achieved 100 percent recovery of waste.

• Reduced water usage by 11.5 percent.

• Reduced electricity consumption by 8.2 percent.

“We want to be a good citizen of the world,” Jones said. “We have a responsibility to environmental improvement from Paris to New York to North Little Rock.”

Chris Ladner, owner of Viridian of Little Rock, a consultant for L’Oréal’s environmental efforts, says the company “has big picture goals for all of its facilities” and pays attention to the triple bottom line: people, planet and profits. It aims to take care of its employees and listen to their ideas, take care of the planet by establishing environmental goals, and do both while ensuring economic success.

“This is accomplished through a balance,” Ladner said. “This allows a company to inform their long-term decisions on things besides economic issues. None of these goals should be mutually exclusive, and L’Oréal is demonstrating that.”