Water Policy

Scope

Sara Lee Corporation is a global manufacturer and marketer of high-quality, brand-named food and beverage products. This policy pertains to all activities of Sara Lee Corporation that consume or influence the consumption of water within our operations and business processes worldwide.

Water is used in each step of the life cycle of our products – from raw material to end-use.  Water is a scarce and valuable natural resource and we are committed to optimizing the use of water associated with sourcing, manufacturing and use of our products and to protect the water resources that we may impact.  Additionally, we will work with our partners, suppliers, customers, consumers and stakeholders to help minimize their water usage related to our products.

We will:

• Measure the water use and wastewater discharge from our direct operations, including where water is sourced and wastewater is discharged;
• Understand the impact of global and local water resource trends (e.g. water availability, competition for finite resources) and risks to our operations posed by these trends;
• Assure that our water use and discharge activities respect the quality and availability of local water resources;
• Engage our employees in a company-wide culture of responsible water management;
• Maximize efficient use of water through a combination of improved product design, production efficiency, technology change and implementation of water best practices;
• Consider water aspects in our decision-making processes for deployment of capital and new product planning; and
• Engage our partners, suppliers, customers and stakeholders to improve water efficiency in the lifecycle of our products.

Water Use & Discharge Performance
Water is an important component of our operation, as an ingredient, a sanitizing agent, and as a fluid used to maintain temperatures. Over the past five years, the staff in manufacturing operations have increased water use efficiency. Currently, Sara Lee uses 16% less water for a given volume of production than it did in fiscal 2005, and 30% less in total volume of water intake. Sara Lee has improved water use efficiency as well – the water discharged as a percent of water intake has dropped an overall three percent since 2005.

Successful Water & Wastewater Reduction Efforts
We often report a particular event that achieves a savings. However with time, we find that it’s not one particular project, but rather a cultural shift that provides the most sustainable savings. Our Florence, Ala. is a case on point. After several years of undertaking projects to become more water efficient, this year the third shift sanitation crew revised their routine processes and saved 12.6% water in the first four months. The maintenance and sanitation crews have internalized sustainability, modified their behavior and achieved excellent results.

Opening the new meat processing plant in Kansas City, Kan. presented an opportunity to review and revise our current manufacturing processes. Moving production from another one of our facilities allowed us to save 53,000 cubic meters of water and reduce our salt use by over 1,200 metric tons per year.