Danielle Byrne was recently appointed head of Sustainability & Purpose for Australia by Reckitt, in a newly created leadership role which will see her direct the development and execution of the sustainability agenda for major consumer household brands including Finish, Vanish, Glen 20 and Pine O Cleen.
In this role, Byrne, who is widely experienced across the consumer goods industry internationally, will accelerate the organisation’s vision to become a leader in sustainability within the local industry, furthering the pursuit of a cleaner, healthier world, and building on the FMCG company’s award-winning work in the community, particularly the globally renowned #FinishWaterWaste campaign first launched in 2019, says Reckitt.
Byrne joined Reckitt in 2018, managing several of its most strategic customers, most recently Woolworths. Before joining Reckitt, she spent a decade building her experience in the UK, where she worked within commercial roles for multiple CPG businesses including Unilever & Kraft Heinz.
Byrne believes her passion and solution focus will enable her to drive the changes required to bring sustainability to the forefront of the business' operations.
"Australians are becoming increasingly climate aware following the devastating extreme weather events from recent years. Communities are looking for governments and organisations to lead the required change by innovating and improving access to more sustainable solutions,” she said. “Here in Australia, Reckitt has already taken meaningful action by supporting local communities and the environment through multiple brand purpose campaigns, but we recognise there is still much more to be done. We will expand our focus to drive more sustainable solutions through our product offering while simultaneously focusing on the reduction of our carbon and packaging footprints."
Reckitt says it is addressing sustainability after establishing what matters most to its customers, consumers and communities. In 2021, the company made public its climate commitments, which include halving its carbon footprint and use of virgin plastic, reducing its chemical footprint by 65 per cent as well as moving to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030.
Alongside driving Reckitt's environmental sustainability agenda, Byrne is also focused internally on supporting the organisation in delivering its target to reach gender balance across all levels of management by 2030, through the launch earlier this year of Women@Reckitt. Women@Reckitt is an Employee Resource Group focused on shining a light on the everyday experiences of women in the workplace by creating a network of support and education to drive positive change.
Reckitt Hygiene ANZ regional director, Oliver Tatlow said Byrne is already playing a critical role in helping Reckitt bring to life its sustainability strategy.
“We are a company focused on performance, but we're also focused on people and purpose. Through our brand purpose campaigns, run in tandem with our charity partners, we have made a positive and lasting impact to multiple communities around Australia as well as our local environment. However, we recognise that there is more to be done which is why we've appointed Danielle Byrne to this newly created role. Danielle brings great energy, drive and focus to the areas where we can make the biggest impact, and her appointment reinforces Reckitt's commitment to work towards a more socially conscious and environmentally sustainable future,” said Tatlow.
Reckitt says the team behind its hygiene portfolio has successfully executed award-winning purpose-led campaigns such as #FinishWaterWaste, which supported regional communities across Australia suffering from devastating drought by delivered millions of litres of water those in need, in partnership with Rural Aid, and also #MakeTextileWasteVanish, which leveraged a strategic partnership with leading textile waste recovery and recycling organisation, Upparel, to educate Australians on how they can reduce clothing waste by keeping their garments in their wardrobes for longer.
