Other marketers may get more headlines, but few personal care companies can have as much of an impact on the environment as Procter & Gamble.

P&G reduced its water and energy consumption 6-8% in its last fiscal year, increasing its reductions since 2002 to roughly 50%, according to the company’s annual sustainability report (www.pg.com/sustainability).

The maker of Tide, Charmin and Pantene also cut its waste disposal by 21% in the year ended June 30. In the same period, P&G  reduced its water consumption by 7%, its energy use by 6% and its carbon dioxide emissions by 8%.

It’s all part of a plan by P&G to markedly reduce its consumption and improve the lives of children over a 10-year period. Since 2002, P&G has cut its corporate water use by 51%, its energy use by 46%, its carbon dioxide emissions by 52% and its waste disposal by 50%.

As part of the program, the consumer products maker also wants to develop and market, by 2012, $20 billion in earth-friendly or “sustainable innovation” products, such as Tide Coldwater or Bounty Mega rolls. As of the end of the last fiscal year, P&G sold almost $2.1 billion in such products.

Lastly, P&G reached more than 60 million children globally through its “Live, Learn and Thrive” clean water program. The goal, by 2012, is to reach 250 million children, according to the report.

“Sustainable development is a very simple idea,” A.G. Lafley, P&G’s CEO, wrote in the report. “It’s about ensuring a better quality of life for everyone, now and for generations to come.”

P&G has been investing in geothermal energy, windmills and landfill gases. At a manufacturing plant in Mehoopany, Pa., a heat-recovery system can reclaim enough energy to power almost 12,000 U.S. households annually. In Utah, P&G in the last fiscal year broke ground on a 1 million-square-foot-facility that will use solar-tracking skylights, a tissue-making machine that uses 19% less energy and geothermal industry, according to an article in the Dayton Business Journal.