Responsible Manufacturing > Environmental Responsibility

Environmental Responsibility

"When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves." – David Orr

Global Environmental Policy

Milliken’s Environmental Policy, adopted in November 1990, established a goal of zero waste to all media.  Our goal is the elimination rather than reduction of all solid waste, hazardous wastes and emissions. This policy guides environmental decision-making and calls for preferring all other means of disposal before using the landfill. To date, the company diverts 99% of all of the company’s waste away from landfills and to places where it could be re-used or recycled.  In addition, we actively seek and use alternative energy to power our manufacturing plants, such as methane gas produced by local landfills.
  •  Our Environmental Policy is reviewed with associates and posted in all locations
  • Cross functional teams at each location are empowered to implement ways to reduce consumption and increase reuse and recycling of resources.
  • Associates are educated and trained in courses Range from 4 hours to 4 days in length
  • A computerized system collects and tracks our environmental data. This data is analyzed and reviewed quarterly by management

Click here to view our Environmental Policy​

Continuous Improvement

Day by day, we look at our manufacturing practices, product life cycle and supply chain to assess our net impacts and what we can do to reduce them. This has led to us to seek even greater efficiencies and develop entirely new technologies to avoid using harmful materials altogether.
 
Such attention to detail and commitment has helped all our manufacturing facilities to obtain the coveted ISO 14001 certification — the highest global standard for environmental responsibility. This company-wide commitment to excellence is also one reason why Milliken is one of the few companies in the U.S. to have received the Malcom Baldridge Quality and TPM awards - as well as the European Quality Award, the British Quality Award and the Canadian Quality Award.

Carbon Footprint

The Milliken family of companies has been certified with the global carbon negative status by the respected Leonard Academy through their Cleaner and Greener® Program - a status we earned without purchasing carbon credits.
 
This "carbon negative" certification means we capture and offset more carbon dioxide than our global operations emit. In fact, we actually offset 5 times more CO2 than we create globally—more than 5 million metric tons of it every year. We have achieved this through a combination of deliberate and rigorous business practices which includes:
  • Capturing CO2 through the sustainable management of more than 130,000 acres of trees in Milliken forests
  • Offsetting emissions through the use of renewable energy 
  • Reducing emissions through an energy management system that includes energy audits and conservation

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Landfill Gas Program

We receive more than 80% of harvested methane from the LaGrange, GA landfill, which has enabled us to replace boiler fuel at our plant there. And we're doing the same at our plant in Inman, SC.

Target: Zero Waste

Since 1990, Milliken has had a goal of Zero Waste to Landfill.