P&G has pledged to eliminate all manufacturing waste from its production sites by 2020.

More than half of the company’s factories have already achieved the zero waste milestone and the firm now intends to commit additional investment for the remaning sites before the end of the decade.

This means eliminating or finding a use for around 650,000 tonnes of waste that would typically go to landfill.

If the waste cannot be recycled or reused within the manufacturing plant, it may be sent somewhere else where there is a use for it.

For example, in Ohio, liquid waste from detergents are being converted to alternative fuels sources to power vehicles and non-recyclable plastic laminate from plants in India is shredded and pressed into low cost building panels.

In this way, P&G has found a way to invest in local communities as a by-product of becoming more sustainable.

In 19 countries, including Germany, the UK, Poland and Japan, all manufacturing facilities have already met the zero waste qualification.

Yannis Skoufalos, P&G President of Global Product Supply, said: “Our employees are using the same innovation skills and zero loss mentality they put into manufacturing our products to drive out waste.

“These innovative external partnerships enable our sites to see scrap not as waste but as potential worth for someone else.”