Trash Talk Series - Diane Herndon (Senior Manager of Sustainability, Nestle Purina)
Diane Herndon is the Senior Manager of Sustainability at Nestle Purina. She works with expert teams across Purina in the US to improve and communicate the sustainability of the company. She works with purchasing teams and non-governmental groups to track Purina’s priority supply chains and verify adherence to Nestlé’s responsible sourcing guidelines. She works with the operations teams as they implement energy, greenhouse gas, water and waste reduction projects.
Package recycling is an important area for Purina as a way to connect with consumers. With Packaging colleagues, Diane developed an online pet food package recycling tool and she is currently working with a cross-industry group to find ways to recycle flexible plastic pet food bags through community recyclers. She is also working with a brand team and the Purina.com on-line store to pilot a carbon neutral shipping program for online orders.
Diane has been with Purina for ten years. Before that, she worked in public policy and sustainable agriculture roles at Monsanto for 24 years. She coordinated a global advisory council of outside experts on behalf of the company’s CEO and was the contact person for environmental, social, religious, consumer and other stakeholder groups. She also organized and staffed the Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility Committee of the Monsanto Board of directors.