KFC has devised an environmentally friendly strategy to dispose of its 60,000 old staff uniforms, by re-purposing them into 25,000 m2 of carpet underlay, which will be sold commercially.
With the help of its existing food delivery suppliers, Cut Fresh Salads and Unifresh, KFC will sustainably transfer the uniforms to Pacific NonWovens, a fiber technology company responsible for the re-purposing, by the end of the year.
“These suppliers will collect old uniforms during routine deliveries and send the 7,000 kilograms worth of materials to Pacific NonWovens from their distribution centres,” said KFC Australia’s chief supply chain officer, Michael Clark.
The issue arose after KFC opted to introduce 25,000 newly designed uniforms across more than 600 of its stores, and it wanted to ensure the old uniforms were disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.
“Diverting old uniforms from landfill presented a significant operational and logistical challenge. This forced KFC to really think outside the box,” said Clark.
The environment is one of four key pillars in KFC’s social corporate responsibility (SCR) strategy, and Clark recognises the need to implement such measures.
“It’s incredibly important that we look for ways to re-purpose unneeded products from our stores and reduce waste and energy consumption across our entire restaurant network,” he said.
Cathy Covino from Cut Fresh Salads said she was proud to support the initiative. “We’re very happy to be working closely with KFC Australia on its environmental initiatives.
“This program has strengthened our partnership, now we’re not only delivering fresh Salads, but utilising our services for a sustainable future,” she explained.
KFC has introduced a series of other environmentally friendly initiatives in recent times, including:
- The first KFC Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified store in 2013
- The ‘Do the Right Thing, Use the Right Bin’ recyling bin initiative, which has been introduced to 185 stores since 2011