Century Foods International employees achieve zero waste to landfill

Century Foods International (Sparta, Wis.) of Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL) was selected as the company’s 2013 Environmental Sustainability Best of the Best champion for reaching a recycling rate of 93 percent and achieving zero percent waste to landfill status at all four of their plant locations last October.

Click HERE for more information and to view a video about Century Food International’s accomplishment.

“In 2012, 90 percent of our waste was being recycled so we said ‘why don’t we just go for 100 percent?’” said Wade E. Nolte, vice president of operations, Century Foods International. “We knew it was going to be difficult because there are a lot of little things that really are difficult to recycle, and that involved us engaging all of our employees.”

Century Foods International employees combined a number of efforts to achieve these results such as: employee awareness, partnerships with buyers, vendors and local groups, and new in-plant processes.

“What we found is that environmental sustainability is something everybody can connect to,” Nolte said.

Each year, Hormel Foods facilitates the companywide internal Environmental Sustainability Best of the Best competition, which rewards and recognizes company teams that have identified areas for efficiency improvement and implemented changes.

In 2013, entries generated throughout Hormel Foods documented significant resource savings – a 154 million gallon reduction in water use, a reduction of more than 180,000 MMBtu of energy, a 7,900,000 reduction in kWh of electricity, and a reduction of more than 1,000 tons of solid waste.

Click HERE for additional information about the company’s corporate responsibility efforts, including other successful project examples to reduce the company’s environmental impact.