Protecting the Environment

Our Environmental Policy commits Milliken to operating our plants and facilities in a manner that protects the quality of our environment and to conserve our natural resources. Our 2025 Planet Goals include the goal of zero environmental violations. We define an environmental violation as any consent order or fine issued to a Milliken facility or any spill or release to the environment that requires immediate regulatory notification. In 2021, we reported that we continued a reduction in environmental violations since our 2018 baseline. We remain committed to external audits and certifications and expanding our internal risk assessments. For external certifications, in 2021, 30 Milliken sites achieved ISO 14001 certifications and 4 sites achieved RC 14001 certifications. Beginning in 2021 and expanding in 2022 is our internal risk assessment process, which includes all global manufacturing facilities and our global headquarters.

Milliken’s Zero Environmental Violations Risk Assessment Methodology

1.  Using a combination of focus groups, interviews, event reports and audit results, each site identifies one to five environmental violation risks.
2. Methods used to analyze identified risks include bowtie analysis, failure mode and effects analysis, process hazards analysis, what if analysis, layer of protection analysis, operational standards and other process safety management and six sigma tools.
3. Each site then applies the same corporate, global environmental risk matrix to evaluate tolerance and assign a priority.
4. Decisions are documented and mitigation action plans are tracked.

Our strategy for reaching zero environmental violations includes a variety of strategic priorities, including: leadership and accountability, compliance verification, nonconformance and corrective action plans, ongoing management of change, risk identification and control and ensuring competence and accountability. Our global teams meet at least quarterly at our “Planet Goals” meetings to share best practices and continuous improvement of our protection of the environment.