ConAgra Foods Recognizes Sustainable Business Practices, Waste Reduction and Resource Conservation
April 13 2011 - 11:36AM
Business Wire
ConAgra Foods announced today the winners of its 2011
Sustainable Development Awards, an internal awards program intended
to drive and reward innovative approaches to sustainability that
produce tangible business results.
This year, combined results from the 78 entries reduced carbon
emissions by more than 30,000 metric tonnes, eliminated 37,000 tons
of landfill waste and 91 tons of packaging material, and conserved
137 million gallons of water. The projects also delivered more than
$18 million in savings, demonstrating the economic value of the
company’s commitment to sustainable development.
“The Sustainable Development Awards drive sustainable practices
through innovation and collaboration,” said Gail Tavill, vice
president of Sustainable Development at ConAgra Foods. “The winning
projects are shining examples of our continued commitment to the
environment and our communities.”
One award was given in each of five categories. In the Climate
Change & Energy Efficiency category, the ConAgra Foods Lamb
Weston/RDO Frozen Foods plant in Park Rapids, Minn., won for its
trio of projects upgrading its compressed air system, reducing
refrigeration head pressure and increasing use of biogas. These
efforts reduced natural gas use by 23,400 dekatherms, cut
electricity use by 3.6 million kilowatt hours and reduced
greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 4,300 metric tonnes.
The award for Water Resources – Conservation & Wastewater
Management was given to ConAgra Foods’ Quincy, Wash., facility. By
changing the way the facility monitored water usage to an hourly
read out, employees were able to more quickly correct behaviors
during periods of over use. These efforts reduced water use by 6.3
million gallons in just three months.
The company’s Russellville, Ark., facility took home the award
for Solid Waste Reduction & Recycling thanks to a recycling
program implemented by the facility’s employee-driven green team.
The facility more than doubled its landfill diversion rate,
recovering more than 14,000 pounds of material through the new
program and increasing recycling revenue and landfill cost
avoidance.
The Sustainable Packaging, Product & Process Innovation
award was given to the company’s Slim Jim packaging team, based in
Omaha, for a program that replaced the meat stick brand’s canister
package with a more environmentally and pantry-friendly paperboard
carton. The redesign reduced packaging materials by 325,600 pounds
per year, replacing plastic and metal with Sustainable Forestry
Initiative-certified paperboard.
The company’s Snacks facility in Waterloo, Iowa, received the
Sustainable Business Practices award for an initiative that allowed
the facility to liquefy sugar internally. By liquefying sugar at
the facility, granular sugar can be transported by rail, saving
230,000 truck miles each year and more than 40,000 gallons of
diesel fuel. The project also improved product quality by allowing
better control of the percent of solids in finished liquid
sugar.
An additional “Sustainability Award of Excellence” was presented
to ConAgra Foods’ Lamb Weston facility in Delhi, La. The facility
became the first frozen food manufacturing plant in the world to
earn Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Platinum
certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The facility’s
energy-saving equipment is projected to be 40 percent more
efficient than a comparable plant. The company announced the LEED
certification in January of this year.
Winners were announced April 13, at the 2011 Sustainable
Development Awards in Omaha. Each winning submission was awarded a
$5,000 grant from ConAgra Foods to apply toward a sustainable
community service project.
Last year ConAgra Foods announced five aggressive sustainability
goals to be achieved by 2015. The goals build on the company's
sustainability accomplishments, which began in 1992 with the
commencement of the ConAgra Foods Sustainable Development Awards
program.
ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) is one of North America’s
leading food companies, with brands in 97 percent of America’s
households. Consumers find Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters,
Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt’s, Marie Callender’s, Orville
Redenbacher’s, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip and many ConAgra Foods
brands in grocery, convenience, mass merchandise and club stores.
ConAgra Foods also has a strong business-to-business presence,
supplying potato, other vegetable, spice and grain products to a
variety of well-known restaurants, foodservice operators and
commercial customers. For more information, please visit us at
www.conagrafoods.com. For more information on the company’s
commitment to the environment, please see its Corporate
Responsibility Report. In regard to ConAgra Foods’ new
sustainability goals, results will be made publicly available in
August of each year through this report.
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