Winning Green for Going Green--Fall/Winter 2010 Edition
Each year we give Environmental Excellence Awards to projects
and initiatives by our facilities that both help the environment
and save money. On September 14, we held our annual Environmental
Excellence Awards banquet during our Environmental Training
Conference in Omaha, Neb. Over 100 representatives of Smithfield
Foods, John Morrell, Smithfield Packing Company, Farmland Foods,
and Murphy-Brown attended. This year's theme was "Sustainability in
Focus." Dennis Treacy, our Chief Sustainability Officer, and Bob
Toy, Director of Environmental for Union Pacific, both spoke about
the importance of sustainability for today's companies.
Three President's Awards and eleven Environmental Excellence
Awards were presented for a wide range of projects addressing
Processes/Packaging, Resource Conservation, Pollution Prevention
and Environmental Management. Environmental Excellence Awards are
given to specific people (or a team of people), and a President's
award is given when the project was the combined effort of too many
folks to name. In total, over 137 projects were submitted.
In combination, the projects submitted resulted in a savings
of:
- 378 million gallons of water
- 138,044 decatherms of natural gas
- 5,014,193 kwh's of electricity
- 34,689 tons of solid waste materials
- 1,575 tons of additional cardboard recycling
- 65,900 gallons of diesel fuel
- 15,000 trees planted
All the above was realized at a capital expenditure
of $10.5 million and an annual cost reduction of $9.94
million.
The awards also resulted in donations to many charities, including
Ronald McDonald House, National FFA, American Cancer Society,
American Red Cross, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and more.
Carter Hanson, of the John Morrell Patrick Cudahy facility
in Cudahy, Wisconsin, was selected as this year's "Zero Hero."
Carter was recognized for his preparedness and ongoing management
of the environmental issues that were encountered as part of the
fire that took place at the Cudahy facility in July of 2009.
"These kinds of results and cost reductions are the product of a
corporate social responsibility program that is embedded throughout
the company and supported at all levels," noted Bill Gill,
Assistant Vice President for Environmental Affairs. Dennis Treacy
agreed, adding "All those receiving awards and submitting projects
are to be congratulated on the efforts and results they bring to
the company year after year."
Please direct any questions or comments regarding the Awards
program to Robert 'Buddy' Harris
(robertharris@smithfieldfoods.com).