Beyond the environmental benefits, reducing waste and increasing resource efficiency helps lower our costs and supports operational efficiency. We consider circularity in our product design, use raw materials as efficiently as possible, minimize operational waste and promote reuse and recycling throughout our value chain.
In 2024, our waste intensity was flat compared to the 2019 baseline. Of our process waste, 48% was either reused, recycled or recovered. While operating sites have continued to implement waste reduction measures, we expect progress toward our waste goals will not be linear. Extensive cleaning and maintenance processes, which are completed at some of our larger facilities every two to three years, result in increased waste output, and we expect variability in our waste intensity as a result. Clearing out excess inventory at the end of the year also contributed to elevated waste output in 2024. We re-baselined our waste data following the divestment of our architectural coatings U.S. and Canada business and our silicas products business. As our business becomes more focused, we expect our waste intensity to decrease over time.
A significant contributor to our waste metrics for 2024 was a fire at our Circleville, Ohio, facility which triggered the facility’s aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) fire suppression system. Although the fire was quickly extinguished, the system continued to deploy foam until it could be shut off manually, resulting in the release of a significant amount of foam and water which was collected in the facility’s secondary containment system. We classified the foam and water as waste which was concentrated through filtration and then incinerated at a permitted facility. AFFF foams are very effective and widely used throughout the world, but they contain PFAS substances which are persistent and bioaccumulative in the environment. For this reason, PPG is in the process of phasing out the use of AFFF foams all of our facilities worldwide. Waste generated from the Circleville incident has been excluded from our annual performance data for 2024 because we believe it would obscure our global performance and make it difficult to compare operational waste data year over year. If this was included in our performance data, PPG’s total waste output in 2024 would be 169 metric tons.
When setting our 2030 targets, we chose to include any materials sent offsite for recycling in our waste intensity metric. This shift acknowledges that recycling is less efficient than waste elimination, repurposing and reuse and ensures that we’re incentivizing desired behavior across our manufacturing and operations functions. Reusing materials that would have otherwise been recycled helps reduce our yield loss and ultimately improves profitability.
While we encourage reuse and repurposing where possible, we also recognize that recycling plays an important role in keeping waste out of landfills. Our goal to reach 100% of process waste to reuse, recycle and recovery supports continuous improvements in the percentage of our waste that is diverted from landfills and other disposal facilities.
PPG supports the circular economy by focusing on every stage of the product life cycle. We reviewed opportunities to reduce waste from the sourcing of raw materials, through the manufacturing process, to the application and usage of products, and their end-of-life. In 2024, we continued to formalize our circularity approach by understanding how PPG is already contributing to the circular economy, identifying new research and development projects to support these efforts, and developing a formal circular economy strategy to guide future efforts.
The median spill in 2024 was 86,882 pounds, with 96% of spills contained onsite. We had seven substantial spills during the year, which totaled 538,341 gallons (2,037,842 liters). Many of these spills have been attributed to issues with mechanical integrity or work instruction practices.
In 2024, we reduced our overall spill rate from 1.52 to 1.34 spills per 1,000 employees, which excludes the divested silicas and architectural coatings U.S. and Canada businesses. Much of this improvement can be attributed to our increased focus on incident reduction at critical sites, which account for an outsized percentage of our overall spills and releases. Our EHS team engaged directly with floor workers at these sites to identify vulnerabilities and develop additional safety procedures. This proactive engagement translated to significant year over year improvements, with spill rates at our critical sites falling by up to 40%.
PPG facilities employ management practices to prevent spills and releases, including employee engagement activities, training, spill elimination assessments, operational improvements, self-assessments and best practice sharing. We engage with all PPG employees through a job safety analysis (JSA), a systematic process designed to identify potential hazards and develop improved work practices for carrying out a specific task or job operation. This is one of several tools within our EHS Management System that help address causal factors, such as equipment, process or people interactions, to prevent future spills and releases.
PPG launched a steering committee in 2024 to review our approach to managing and reporting on spills. As part of this initiative, we began developing an updated process for calculating our spill rate that is more precise and reflective of how our business runs today. Based on insights from peer surveys and benchmarking, we are also working to refine our process for classifying hazardous chemicals to better align with the global harmonized systems of classification and labeling of chemicals (GHS).
For more detailed information about our ongoing approach to waste management and circularity, see the bottom of this web page.
Thousand metric tons
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| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |
| Waste generated | 165.15 | 166.35 | 157.69 | 166.39 | 159.70 | 183.48 |
Total waste intensity metric tons per 100 metric tons of production | 4.83 | 4.84 | 4.47 | 4.44 | 4.48 | 4.82 |
| Disposed | 86.21 | 87.95 | 83.29 | 88.16 | 89.27 | 107.06 |
Disposal intensity metric tons per 100 metric tons of production | 2.52 | 2.56 | 2.36 | 2.35 | 2.51 | 2.81 |
| Waste Recycled | 78.94 | 78.39 | 74.40 | 78.22 | 70.43 | 76.42 |
Disposed waste does not include waste that is recycled, reclaimed or incinerated for energy recovery. Waste generated includes all waste from manufacturing and R&D locations generated as a consequence of the activities involved in the production of our products and services. Data changes from prior reporting reflect adjustments for acquired and divested locations.
Waste figures represent global waste data, excluding waste generated from fire suppression system at Circleville, Ohio, facility.
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| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |
Generated thousand metric tons | 69.74 | 69.61 | 68.29 | 71.71 | 67.78 | 75.90 |
Recycled percent | 37% | 39% | 37% | 37% | 34% | 34% |
Disposed thousand metric tons | 43.95 | 42.21 | 42.74 | 45.26 | 44.62 | 50.23 |
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| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |
Generated thousand metric tons | 95.41 | 96.74 | 89.40 | 94.67 | 91.92 | 107.57 |
Recycled percent | 56% | 53% | 55% | 55% | 51% | 47% |
Disposed thousand metric tons | 42.25 | 45.74 | 40.55 | 42.90 | 44.66 | 56.83 |
Disposed waste includes waste that is sent off site for landfill, incineration without energy recovery and physical/chemical treatment. We report our hazardous waste data using the regulatory framework of each country where we operate. Data changes from prior reporting reflect adjustments for acquired and divested locations.
Waste figures represent global waste data, excluding waste generated from fire suppression system at Circleville, Ohio, facility.
Per 1,000 employees
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| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
| 1.34 | 1.66 | 1.45 | 1.44 | 1.35 | 1.52 |
Waste figures represent global waste data, excluding waste generated from fire suppression system at Circleville, Ohio, facility.