Yum! Brands highlights sustainable packaging successes, goals in 2010 CSR report

Linda Casey

March 11, 2015

5 Min Read
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Yum! Brands Inc., best known for being the parent company of international brands such as f Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC, announced the release of its online 2010 Corporate Social Responsibility Report titled: Serving the World.

‘Serving the World’ examines Yum! Brands’ social, environmental and economic impact based on company and external shareholder expectations and provides progress updates since the first report was issued in 2008. The Report includes new features, including video messages from senior leaders regarding Yum! Brands’ CSR initiatives and commitments in four areas: About Us, Our Food, The Environment and Our Heart, providing information pertaining to the company’s culture, nutrition, environmental sustainability and community giving, respectively.

“Our commitment to corporate social responsibility is helping us achieve our vision of building The Defining Global Company that Feeds the World,” says David Novak, chairman and CEO, Yum! Brands, Inc. “We believe that our strongest impact and contribution to sustainability lies in the critical parts of our business – the success and diversity of our associates, feeding people, health and nutrition, our supply chain, the environment and community development”

Highlights from the 2010 Corporate Social Responsibility Report include:

Environmental Sustainability
Yum! And its U.S. brands use napkins made from 100 percent recycled content and have molded fiber drink cup carriers that are 100 percent recycled content. In September 2010, KFC U.S. became the first quick–service restaurant to introduce a reusable food side container. By 2011, KFC U.S. will reduce foam packaging use by 62 percent and reduce total plastic use by 17 percent. In addition, Pizza Hut U.S. utilizes up to 50 percent recycled material in its pizza boxes and Taco Bell has eliminated more than 2 million pounds of materials from select packaging.
In the last two years, the company’s U.S. brands have reduced energy consumption by 8 percent resulting in the elimination of over 60,000 metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. This is equivalent to removing 11,000 cars from the road.
Over the last five years, Yum! has reduced its utilities usage by over 20 percent, reducing the company’s carbon footprint by installing environmentally friendly lighting, heating and air conditioning systems and other lower energy restaurant equipment.
Yum! has achieved a more than 13 percent reduction in energy usage in all U.S. company–owned restaurants through the application of numerous energy conservation measures, resulting in the elimination of more than 111,000 metric tons of CO2 per year from the atmosphere. The Company’s goal is to reduce energy and water usage in its restaurants around the world by 10 percent each by 2015.
Yum! opened its first two green restaurants in the U.S. and the U.K., which have become a model for its sustainable restaurant design. The restaurants, each designed to use 30 percent less energy and water than a conventional building, also cut CO2 emissions, reduce waste going to landfills/incinerators and educate visitors and employees on sustainable design. The company’s goal is to develop 5 LEED certifiable (or other country specific third–party validation) restaurant prototypes/standards across China, U.S., and Yum! Restaurant International (YRI) business divisions by 2012.
World Hunger Relief
Yum! Brands’ World Hunger Relief movement, a private sector hunger relief effort, has raised nearly $85 million for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and other hunger relief agencies, providing nearly 350 million meals since its launch in 2007.

Health & Nutrition
The company provides balanced menu options available to consumers through offerings such as KFC’s Kentucky Grilled Chicken and Taco Bell’s Fresco Menu featuring seven items with nine grams of fat or less. The Company has converted cooking oils to zero grams trans fat per serving in most countries. Yum! also helps promote a balanced lifestyle and physical activity through its website KeepItBalanced.com.
Outside the U.S., the vast majority of the Company’s markets – including the U.K., France, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany and China – provide nutrition information via websites and other communications. Yum! is committed to working with international franchisees to provide this information in all restaurants and websites worldwide.
Yum! is making continuous reductions in the level of sodium in food across all brands across the globe. For example, Taco Bell U.S. has reduced sodium by 20 percent in the past the two years. KFC U.S. has removed a million pounds of salt annually from its menu.
KFC in Australia and New Zealand has implemented a sodium reduction initiative, removing more than 85 tons of salt from the diet of its consumers in the region and KFC in the United Kingdom has reduced sodium by up to 45 percent on some menu items. Pizza Hut has been testing significant reductions in sodium in core products in Korea, Canada and Australia. Reductions of up to 50 percent have been achieved and the company is looking to extend globally. YRI has also created a grilled line of products for KFC and is rolling out the line throughout international markets.
Over the past three years, the China KFC Health and Nutrition Fund has funded research and education programs related to food, nutrition and city residents. A total of 2 million RMB (approximately $300,000 USD) is donated each year to support programs nationwide. In 2004, KFC China launched a national youth three–on–three basketball tournament, the most popular and largest corporate–sponsored sports program in Chinese history. The program, now in its 7th season, has more than 167,800 participants making up 30,100 teams across more than 480 cities. KFC China also has an entire line of healthy, roasted foods, soups and seasonal vegetables.

The complete interactive 2010 Corporate Social Responsibility Report is available at www.yum.com/csr

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