SMITHFIELD, Va., July 30, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Smithfield Foods, Inc. (NYSE: SFD ) has honored several of its facilities and employees for their successful sustainability efforts during fiscal year 2013 through a number of innovative environmental projects.
The bottom-line impact of these projects was significant, with Smithfield Foods saving more than 592 million gallons of water, nearly 12 million kilowatts of electricity and about 721,000 gallons of fuel oil. These reductions, along with other sustainability achievements resulting from various projects implemented by Smithfield's family of companies, produced an annual cost savings of more than $8 million.
Smithfield recognized the environmental achievements of the past fiscal year during its annual Environmental Excellence Awards banquet on July 17, 2013.
Smithfield executives presented one President's Award and 12 Environmental Excellence Awards for a variety of project categories that represent a companywide commitment to sustainability: wastewater handling and treatment; environmental training and/or ISO 14001; resource conservation-waste reduction; packaging reduction; best recycling of a previous year's project; community outreach and innovative solution to a compliance issue.
The President's Award was presented to John Morrell, of Peru, Indiana, for its resource conservation/waste reduction project. John Morrell's Peru plant became the first Smithfield Foods facility to achieve zero-waste-to-landfill, reducing solid waste from 999 tons in fiscal year 2008 down to less than 25 tons during fiscal year 2013. The John Morrell facility also won an Environmental Excellence Award in the wastewater handling and treatment category for saving 3.5 million gallons of water and more than 5,000 pounds of chemicals.
A complete list of categories and award recipients can be found below. For fiscal year 2013, 182 companywide projects were submitted for review.
"We're very proud of our employees, who continue to find innovative ways to promote our sustainability efforts by enhancing our environmental management processes. Clearly, their ongoing efforts are producing measurable sustainability results that create value for our businesses and communities," said Dennis H. Treacy, Smithfield's executive vice president and chief sustainability officer.
Smithfield's Environmental Excellence Awards program is intended to inspire employees to practice creative environmental stewardship by recognizing outstanding internal efforts in environmental management.
President's Award
Resource Conservation – Waste Reduction
John Morrell , Peru, IN – Achieved zero waste to landfill status.
Individual Facility Awards
Wastewater Treatment and Handling
1st Place – John Morrell , Peru, IN – Began recycling 'gray water' to supply wastewater treatment processes.
Honorable Mention: Farmland Foods , Denison, IA – Developed process to capture and process material from blood plasma filters.
Environmental Training and/or ISO 14001
1st Place – Smithfield Packing Company , Smithfield, VA – Developed visitor badges that include important safety and environmental information and QR code to connect to company videos.
Resource Conservation - Waste Reduction
1st Place – Animex , Suwalki, Poland – Updated various pieces of equipment to significantly reduce fuel oil usage.
2nd Place – Farmland Foods , Milan, MO – Adjusted refrigeration control system to conserve energy.
3rd Place – Smithfield Prod , Timisoara, Romania – Installed water meters in key areas to more accurately monitor water use, resulting in significant reductions.
Honorable Mention – John Morrell , San Jose, CA – Instituted a plastics recycling program, reducing solid waste to landfill by half.
Honorable Mention – Norson , Hermosillo, Mexico – Began using frozen brine, rather than dry ice, reducing CO2 emissions.
Honorable Mention – John Morrell , Sioux Center, IA – Improved pallet management program, reducing solid waste to landfill.
Honorable Mention – Smithfield Packing Company , Tar Heel, NC – Installed steam condensate return system, reducing water usage and natural gas consumption.
Honorable Mention – Murphy Brown of Missouri , Princeton, MO – Improved water management program, resulting in significant reductions.
Honorable Mention – Farmland Foods , Monmouth, IL – Implemented hot water recycling system.
Packaging Reduction
1st Place – Farmland Foods , Salt Lake City, UT – Completed series of packaging material reductions.
2nd Place – John Morrell , St. James, MN – Reduced product packaging.
Best Recycling of a Previous Year's Project
1st Place – Duplin Marketing , Rose Hill, NC; Pee Dee, SC; Courtland, VA; Guymon, OK; Milan, MO; Nevada, MO – Implemented comprehensive recycling program.
2nd Place – John Morrell , Sioux City, IA – Installed low flow hose nozzles for daily clean up operations.
Honorable Mention – Farmland Foods , Denison, IA – Began using reusable plastic bins for handling and shipping raw materials.
Community Outreach
1st Place – Murphy-Brown of Missouri , Princeton, MO – Donated bottled water to schools for use in fundraising.
2nd Place – Smithfield Packing Company , Portsmouth, VA – Volunteers planted native bay grasses to help restore the Chesapeake Bay.
Honorable Mention – Murphy-Brown , Ames, IA – Provided care packages for troops in Kuwait.
Innovative Solution to a Compliance Issue
1st Place – Murphy-Brown , Milford, UT – Installed leak detection system in lagoons.
Honorable Mention – Farmland Foods , Arnold, PA – Switched ingredient to reduce wastewater loading and risk of spills.
About Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods is a $13 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield ® , Eckrich ® , Farmland ® , Armour ® , Cook's ® , Gwaltney ® , John Morrell ® , Kretschmar ® , Curly's ® , Carando ® , Margherita ® , and Healthy Ones ® . Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental, and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com and www.smithfieldcommitments.com .
Keira Lombardo Smithfield Foods, Inc. (757) 365-3050
