Month: April 2024

Originally published on Impact Podcast

Niki King is the VP and Head of Sustainability for The Clorox Company, where she oversees the company’s integrated IGNITE ESG efforts including driving strategies and roadmaps to achieve the company’s ambitious ESG goals and implementing the company’s ESG governance structure. She is also responsible for engaging a broad set of internal and external stakeholders to embed ESG throughout the organization and ensure Clorox continues as a leader in the ESG space.

John Shegerian: Do you have a suggestion for a Rockstar Impact Podcast guest? Go to impactpodcast.com and just click ‘Be a Guest.’ to recommend someone today. This edition of the Impact Podcast is brought to you by ERI. ERI has a mission to protect people, the planet, and your privacy and is the largest fully integrated IT and electronics asset disposition provider and cybersecurity-focused hardware destruction company in the United States and maybe even the world. For more information on how ERI can help your business properly dispose of outdated electronic hardware devices, please visit eridirect.com. This episode of the Impact Podcast is brought to you by Closed Loop Partners. Closed Loop Partners is a leading circular economy investor in the United States with an extensive network of Fortune 500 corporate investors, family offices, institutional investors, industry experts, and impact partners. Closed Loop’s platform spans the arc of capital from venture capital to private equity, bridging gaps and fostering synergies to scale the circular economy. To find Closed Loop Partners, please go to www.closedlooppartners.com.

John: Welcome to another edition of the Impact Podcast. I’m John Shegerian, and I’m so honored to have with us today, Niki King. She’s the VP and Head of Sustainability for the Clorox Company. Welcome to the Impact Podcast, Niki.

Niki King: Thanks so much for having me, John.

John: It’s an honor to have you here today, representing such an iconic and important brand. And before we get talking about all the things in sustainability you’re doing with your colleagues at Clorox, I’d love you to share a little bit about your background. Niki, where you grow up, and how’d you get on this journey, and who inspired you along the way?

Niki: Absolutely. I currently live in New Jersey, but like many of my peers and sustainability professionals, I’ve really had quite the journey. If you would have asked me 25 years ago what I would be doing, it certainly wouldn’t be this, nor would I have imagined this roller coaster that my career has been. But I grew up in a tiny town in rural Alabama. We literally had one-stop life and a face in the courthouse window. So that’s a true story. You can Google it. It’s an interesting one. That’s the claim to fame. I had pretty humble beginnings.

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Originally published in Qualcomm’s 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report

Through our Environmental Program Management Standard, we focus on identifying activities, services and processes that generate waste and strive to reduce the impact of our waste disposal practices on the environment. Our operations generate various types of waste, including general solid waste, hazardous and regulated waste and e-waste, including network infrastructure equipment. Our approach to waste management involves reuse and recycling programs to help us decrease the amount of waste we send to landfills. It also comprises the development of initiatives to reduce our overall waste footprint and the promotion of less toxic, more durable, reusable and recycled materials in our operations. A variety of our business units lead our waste recycling and management programs. They include:

Real Estate and Facilities (QREF): Our QREF and site support teams manage general solid waste at our sites, as well as manage surplus office furniture. The team works with service providers to measure waste and implement programs to encourage waste reduction, recycling and composting.EHS: Our EHS group manages hazardous and other regulated waste generated by various business operations. EHS also provides guidance to various business units regarding the recycling of batteries and e-waste and the management of other regulated wastes.IT: Our IT group works with several qualified e-waste recyclers to manage electronics recycling. The team is also active in donating computer equipment to local charities and schools.

We continue our efforts to minimize the impacts of hazardous waste by using less toxic material, where possible, and reducing the amount generated. Our disposition approach is recycling or reuse, followed by physical treatment or disposal in an appropriate landfill, as a last resort.

We strive to prioritize our waste mitigation efforts to reduce the number of materials going to landfills. To support this effort, we revamped our internal waste data collection system to increase data availability and accuracy. We also retrained our data providers and supporting vendors to follow our waste data collection processes and practices. By taking these actions, we will have better visibility of our total waste generated and be in a position to identify waste diversion solutions, as well as improve our waste management activities.

“Our approach to waste management involves reuse and recycling programs to help us decrease the amount of waste we send to landfills.”

Learn more about how Qualcomm is driving innovation, societal advancement and sustainability in the 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report