Colgate-Palmolive’s newly launched 2025 Sustainability & Social Impact Strategy stems from our purpose: ‘We are Colgate, a caring, innovative growth company reimagining a healthier future for people, their pets and our planet.’ The Gebze plant is aligned with our corporate responsibility and initiatives for a long term business strategy. As the Colgate Gebze plant, we are committed to reducing our impact on the environment.
In order to reduce our overall waste as well as send less waste to landfill & energy and more to recycle and reuse, we have completed many activities in the light of the GBCI TRUE manual. This included training all employees and subcontractors on zero waste, organizing a dumpster dive activity on site, eliminating non-recyclable/non reusable waste, finding alternative recycling/reusing ways for non-recyclable waste, implementing food waste composting program, working closely with stakeholders to reduce inbound and outbound packaging waste, etc.
Some highlights of our program include collecting plastic caps from bottles and donating them to the Turkey Spinal Cord Injury Association who turns the bottle caps into wheelchairs, composting our food waste and using it in our garden, reducing electronic wastes with the ''Your Laptop You Own It'' program where computers that are still usable after their lifecycle do not go to waste and return to the employee. Along with reducing waste, this project supports the circular economy by providing financial benefits to employees. Our zero waste efforts also benefited significantly from Colgate's sustainable packaging program where all our product packaging is converted to recyclable materials, helping to increase the plant's diversion rates to recycling.
Our waste reduction program outcomes reflect how everyone working at the Colgate Gebze plant cares about our environment and adopts a zero waste mindset.
“By 2025, we aim to achieve 100% TRUE certification for our global operations, including manufacturing sites, technology centers, strategic offices and owned warehouses,” says Ann Tracy, Chief Sustainability Officer. “With enthusiastic teams, collaborative partners and this comprehensive approach to waste reduction, we’re confident we can make it happen.”
We are very proud to be the first site in Turkey to achieve this certification and will leverage this to increase zero waste awareness in our community and country