Monday October 10, on 'Sustainability Day', a meeting of the Large Companies Network (GBN *) of MVO Nederland took place at Interface in Scherpenzeel. The objective of the meeting 'From waste reduction to waste-free' was to inspire large companies to reduce waste and to motivate them to do it themselves. As one of the experts, Milgro was given the stage to present its vision on waste management, together with Pon, which has been a Milgro customer since early 2014.
Pon as 'best practice'
Director of Sustainability of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, Hannie Vlug, was present to explain the ambitions of the government from the government-wide Circular Economy program. In a short pitch, Laurens Groen (Milgro) and Hans Verhoeven (Pon) took those present along with them in the approach followed and the results achieved at Pon Leusden. This 'best practice' underlined the importance of digital process management, full control over waste flows, reliable data and specialist knowledge. “With those competencies, Milgro has succeeded in removing the complexity from Pon waste management and significantly improving waste and environmental performance,” says Verhoeven.
Round table discussion
After the plenary session, the more than 40 companies present were able to present their waste management challenges to the experts in round table discussions. A variety of subjects were discussed at the well-attended and animated round table of Milgro and Pon; of stimulating sustainable behavior in the workplace to the added value that insight into waste offers to reduce waste in the production process.
Zero waste
Finally, the Zero Waste(d) Coalition, an initiative of MVO Nederland, was introduced. Milgro has committed itself as an expert to the Zero Waste(d) Coalition and wants to take the participants along in the transition from consumption to use of raw materials, in line with the development towards a circular economy. The participating companies formulate a Zero Waste ambition and commit themselves to the implementation of a short-term waste reduction plan. The coalition kick-off takes place on 24 November 2016.
* The Large Companies Network (GBN) with almost 100 participants is the CSR network for large companies (> 500 FTE) in the Netherlands. The network connects, strengthens and stimulates large companies to make CSR a matter of course, both within the company and beyond.
