SC Johnson Announces Third Site Now Running on 100 Percent Wind Energy

In an ongoing effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, SC Johnson today announced their manufacturing site in Bay City, Michigan, the facility that manufactures Ziploc brand bags, recently joined two other company-owned manufacturing sites running on 100 percent wind energy for electricity.

“With our third site powered entirely by wind energy, almost one third of SC Johnson’s energy usage globally now comes from renewable sources,” said Kelly M. Semrau, Senior Vice President – Global Corporate Affairs, Communication and Sustainability, SC Johnson. “We are proud of our commitment and progress toward taking care of the environment for future generations.”

Bay City achieved this milestone by purchasing 100 percent of its wind energy from nearby wind farms.

With community cooperation, SC Johnson made a tall commitment to wind energy usage in 2012 when it powered-up two 415-foot wind turbines at Waxdale, the company’s largest global manufacturing facility located in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. The two turbines generate about 8 million kilowatt-hour of electricity each year, enough to power 770 homes a year. They eliminate about 6,000 metric tons of carbon emissions annually.

Since 2009 and 2016 respectively, manufacturing operations in Mijdrecht, Netherlands, and Gorzow, Poland, have been running completely on wind energy. The Gorzow manufacturing plant also purchases its entire demand for wind energy. The company’s Mijdrecht site purchases approximately 50 percent and generates the remaining wind energy onsite.

SC Johnson, the maker of trusted household products like Glade, Raid, Scrubbing Bubbles and Ziploc, has used renewable energy sources around the world since 2004. The efforts help exceed their goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the percentage of renewable energy used by their global manufacturing sites, the largest users of energy at SC Johnson. Through the end of 2016, SC Johnson had achieved a nearly 52 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions versus their 2000 baseline.

While wind energy is a source of SC Johnson’s greenhouse gas emission reductions, other sources are critical contributors, too. For example, in Indonesia, the company uses waste biomass products as an energy source. This resulted in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 13,000 metric tons in Indonesia alone. Globally, more than 32 percent of the company’s energy use now comes from renewable sources.

Image: Wind turbines provide 100 percent of the electrical energy for three SC Johnson manufacturing plants (Source: SC Johnson)