Waste
Business context
Waste is an indicator of how efficiently we use materials across our operations. Preventing waste and keeping materials in productive use can reduce disposal and material costs, improve productivity and help strengthen the resilience of our manufacturing network and supply chain. It also supports our broader efforts to reduce resource use and the environmental footprint of our operations.
Operational waste can also affect people and communities. Reducing the amount of material sent to landfill can lessen pressure on local waste systems, while recycling, composting and beneficial reuse can extend the value of materials. Our teammates play an important role by identifying waste streams, improving segregation and helping build consistent practices at each site.
As expectations for resource efficiency, waste transparency and responsible operations evolve, we continue to integrate waste considerations into manufacturing and operational decision-making. This approach supports operational performance, helps manage regulatory and stakeholder expectations, and contributes to long-term business resilience.
Goals and commitments
As part of our IGNITE strategy, we have a goal to maintain 100% zero waste to landfill (ZWtL) in global plants where infrastructure allows.
Management approach and initiatives
Our ZWtL goal is overseen by our robust governance structure. We manage operational waste, including solid and hazardous waste, through a site-based approach in which each location evaluates the waste it generates and works with teammates, suppliers and waste-service providers to identify ways to prevent waste, improve material segregation and find alternatives to landfill. Our solid and hazardous waste disposal practices are consistent with applicable regulatory requirements.
Zero waste to landfill
We have developed enterprise criteria for ZWtL based on industry best practices. Clorox’s criteria includes:
- Have a zero-waste approach to minimizing all waste streams.
- Have processes to reduce, reuse, recycle, compost, or send to energy recovery.
- Pass a corporate audit, following Clorox guidelines for our ZWtL program, which was informed by UL Standard 2799, 3rd Edition (03/22/17).
The ZWtL metric is calculated as a percent to reflect both changes to the number of company-approved ZWtL facilities and changes to the total number of facilities we operate due to acquisitions, divestitures and changing facility needs and vendor capabilities to support our business. Locations where landfill waste diversion infrastructure limits the ability to achieve ZWtL are excluded from this metric unless the residual waste impeded by infrastructure limitations constitutes 5% or less of a site’s total waste. If 5% or less and the location meets all remaining ZWtL criteria, it is included in this metric and counted as a ZWtL location. In cases where inadvertent waste sent to landfill is less than 2% of a site’s total waste, but it meets all remaining ZWtL criteria, it is counted as a ZWtL location.
Site-level examples
- Our Tlalnepantla, Mexico, plant and Tultitlan, Mexico, distribution center decided to work together on their ZWtL journeys. The facilities developed unique labels using pictograms for their recycling containers. In addition to traditional recycling, where waste is incorporated as a raw material in the manufacturing of new products, both Mexico sites are also sending waste to co-processing facilities. There, waste is used as combustible material to fire cement kilns. The resultant ash is used to help make cement. Co-processing combines the best of the recycling and waste-to-energy methods as no residual material ends up in landfills. The energy value of the combustible material aids one process, and the ash becomes another product altogether.
- Our Martinsburg, West Virginia, plant’s ZWtL achievement was driven by strong employee engagement, site-wide training, improved recycling infrastructure and clear waste-sorting practices. The plant also developed an innovative partnership with a local concrete manufacturer to repurpose off-spec litter material that could not be recycled or sent to a waste-to-energy facility.
Reporting and disclosures
We report progress against our ZWtL goal as well as our annual landfill waste footprint to CDP, in our Integrated Annual Report, and on our Sustainability Data Hub.
Recent progress
In fiscal year 2025, we achieved our 100% ZWtL goal across our manufacturing facilities and maintained that performance in fiscal year 2026 with all plants where we have operational control over waste streams meeting our ZWtL criteria.
Last updated
October 5, 2026