How Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Does Good Things with Flavor

Last week, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (DPS), a leading producer of flavored beverages in North America and the Caribbean, released its 2012 sustainability report "We Do Good Things with Flavor." The report outlined the company's overall success in meeting goals determined in the inaugural 2010 report as well as detailed what future action is in the works.

While DPS's inaugural sustainability report in 2010 established 2015 goals and outlined its approach to CSR, the new report highlights significant progress toward many of the defined benchmarks in six primary areas: environmental sustainability, health & wellness, philanthropy, workplace, ethical sourcing, and economic impact.

Environmental sustainability

DPS's environmental goals reside within energy conservation, fuel conservation, water conservation, and waste reduction:

• Improve energy efficiency and reduce CO₂ from emissions in manufacturing by 10% per gallon of finished product.


• Increase product shipments per gallon of fuel used by 20%.


• Replace 60,000 vending machines and coolers with Energy Star-rated equipment that is approximately 30% more energy-efficient.


• Reduce manufacturing water use and wastewater discharge by 10% per gallon of finished product.


• Recycle 90% of manufacturing solid waste.


• Conserve more than 60 million pounds of plastic through PET package lightweighting and redesigns and increased use of  recycled PET.


• Recycling 81 percent of manufacturing waste, exceeding its original goal and putting the company well on the way toward achieving its increased goal of 90 percent of waste diverted. At the same time, the recycling efforts at just nine DPS sites in 2011 generated $1.3 million in revenue, demonstrating the business value created from such efforts.

Health and wellness
The company vows to continue to provide a full range of products, with at least 50% of innovation projects in the pipeline focused on reducing calories, offering smaller sizes and improving nutrition. In fact, in 2011, DPS spent over $70 million promoting their diet and better-for-you products. DPS also aims to support local and/or national programs that encourage active lifestyles and fitness. One such endeavor is the launch of Let's Play, a community partnership to get kids and families active nationwide through a three-year, $15 million grant to KaBOOM!. In its first year, DPS and KaBOOM! built or fixed up 528 playgrounds to give 1.3 million children access to play spaces.

Philanthropy
The creation of ACTION Nation, DPS's platform provided the direction and focus needed to contribute a total of 100,000 volunteer hours and attain an annual giving level of $10 million in charitable cash donations, with the majority of support focused on fit and active lifestyles, environmental sustainability, emergency relief and community celebrations. To date, more than 55,000 volunteer hours to philanthropic activities have been recorded — more than halfway to the company's goal.

Workplace
DPS is devoted to employee diversity, safety, wellness, learning, and development. The company will maintain team leader engagement scores comparable to or better than those of other high-performing companies and reduce the lost time injury rate by 25%.

Ethical sourcing
To sustain the 2010 agreements regarding the confirmation of supply chain compliance, animal testing policy, and supplier diversity, DPS conducts regular risk assessments of the supply base and audits any high-risk suppliers identified to ensure full compliance with the Ethical Sourcing Code of Conduct.

Economic impact
Below is DPS's by the numbers:

Net Sales: $5.9 billion Goods Purchased: $2.5 billion Taxes Paid: $188 million Wages, Benefits ad Payroll Taxes: $955 million Community Investments: Financial contributions--$11.6 million Product Donations: $1.8 million Volunteerism: 38,000 hours, valued at approximately $400,000 Returns to Shareholders 2011: DPS returned $773 million to shareholders in the form of share repurchases ($533 million) and dividends ($251 million).

"When we began as an independent, publicly traded company four years ago, we committed to growing our business in a way that delivers shareholder value while also ensuring environmental and social responsibility," said Larry D. Young, president and CEO for DPS. "As our business has grown, so have our CSR programs and initiatives. We are proud of the meaningful progress we have made over the past few years and remain dedicated to delivering on our goals."

Photo courtesy Dr. Pepper Snapple Group.