Kimberly-Clark Professional, a global leader in personal protective equipment (PPE) for industrial and scientific applications, has bestowed the 2023 Greenovation Awards on 49 companies for demonstrating sustainability leadership and reducing their environmental impact by participating in landfill diversion programmes.

The companies were recognised for diverting a total of 439,227 pounds of PPE waste from landfills in 2022 through The RightCycle programme. The programme helps a wide range of Kimberly-Clark Professional's customers reduce their solid waste streams by enabling them to recycle single-use items such as garments, gloves, hoods, boot covers, masks and safety eyewear.

Since its inception in 2011, The RightCycle programme has helped over 1,000 customers divert more than 4.5 million pounds of PPE waste from landfills, the company said in a press release.

"Millipore Sigma has a long-standing commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship. The RightCycle programme made it easy for us to maintain that commitment and achieve our sustainability goals,” Jameson Wentworth, senior EHS specialist at MilliporeSigma, a 2023 award recipient, said.

"Our customers have displayed exceptional leadership in sustainability through this program as well as other initiatives to reduce their environmental impact," said Ashley Davis, global sustainability manager, Kimberly-Clark Professional. "We commend them on their accomplishments and wish them continued success on their sustainability journeys."

The Greenovation Awards were established by Kimberly-Clark Professional in 2013 to honour the waste diversion efforts of its customers. Each year, Kimberly-Clark Professional recognises companies for leadership in sustainability and a commitment to reducing their environmental impact.

The RightCycle programme collects used PPE and sends these items to regional recycling partners to become plastic pellets used to manufacture consumer products, including lawn furniture, benches and bicycle racks.

Kimberly-Clark Professional aspires to be at the forefront of the transition to a circular, reuse economy by reducing waste, promoting waste-handling system improvements and innovating new ways of providing people with the products they need to live their best lives. As part of its global goal to reduce its environmental footprint by 50 per cent by 2030, the company is focused on the areas where it can make the biggest difference – climate, forests, water and plastics.