Kimberly-Clark Manufacturing Facilities Find Innovating Ways to Help the Environment

Kimberly-Clark manufacturing facilities play a critical role to help the company deliver on its 2030 sustainability ambition and reduce their environmental footprint by half.

The Kimberly-Clark Professional facility in Villey-Saint-Étienne, France (VSE) is committed to the company’s sustainability goals. VSE produces rolled and folded paper towels for businesses and has over the past several years taken extensive measures to drive down its environmental impact.

The VSE facility worked diligently to reduce its reliance on virgin fiber. The team adjusted the process set-up, operating parameters, and chemical package in order to produce – for the first time in the facility’s history – a product based on 100% secondary fiber.

By substituting virgin fiber with secondary fiber sourced from other Kimberly-Clark facilities in Europe, the VSE facility cut its annual usage of virgin pulp from 54,000 metric tons to 13,000 metric tons. This reduced the mill’s dependency on virgin pulp to only 16 percent.

The facility has also made continuous improvements to reduce its carbon and waste footprint. VSE completed a LED lighting project that resulted in a 35% reduction in the facility’s lighting electricity consumption. In addition, the facility has maintained zero waste to landfill status.

These efforts have been recognized internally with Kimberly-Clark’s “Crystal Tree Awards,” which are the internal highest recognition for sustainability leadership. The VSE facility received a Team Excellence Award for Forest Footprint and a Mill Excellence Award.

“I’m proud of our two Crystal Tree Awards that recognize our commitment and improvement in areas including water usage, energy consumption and switching from virgin to recycled fibers,” said Oliver Coquet, VSE Mill Manager. “We are fully committed to enhance our performance and we’re continuously searching for new ideas we can bring to life to make a meaningful difference to the surrounding environment.”

The VSE Mill team is always thinking of innovative ways to make a meaningful difference to the environment and community. In 2019 the team installed beehives on the site and last year they were able to harvest the first honey and redistribute it to the facility employees. This demonstrates the facility's holistic commitment to sustainability.