Long-Term Efforts Drive Sustainability for our SEMA Finalists
With continually increasing demand for transparency, it’s not enough to set meaningful environmental goals; the programs need to be in place to make those goals achievable.
Tommy Pierce from Grundfos (orange vest) discusses the new Hydro HP high-pressure pump system with VPGC’s Phil Miller (middle) and Carotek’s Steve Floyd.
Grundfos
Sustainability has long been an important part of food and beverage manufacturing, but those efforts have been growing and evolving throughout the years. More than ever, brand owners are finding the need for transparency. Whether or not they were themselves guilty of greenwashing in the past, they know that consumers demand more and more transparency these days. They can’t just talk the talk—they’ve got to walk the walk.
The industry is making strides toward more sustainable practices, driven by consumer demand, regulatory pressures, and the recognition that sustainability is good for both the environment and business.
Each year, ProFood World recognizes projects and programs undertaken by food and beverage operations. As usual, we saw a wide range of endeavors among the entries. But what the winners of this year’s Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards show us most of all is that they are creating cultural shifts among their workforces. They have embarked on ongoing programs that will drive them closer to difficult but attainable goals, and the efforts will continue for years to come.
All entries were judged by a team of food industry peers. The winners will be honored at a special session at PACK EXPO International on Nov. 5. Come join us to find out which of these finalists will walk away with the top prize.
Category Finalist Pallet Recovery Boosts the Bottom Line at Bob's Red Mill
Like many food operations, Bob’s Red Mill (BRM) goes through its share of pallets. And, as is also common, the company was typically using newly purchased pallets and pallets arriving with raw materials only once before sending them to a third party for disposal.
The company’s Pallet Recovery Operations (PRO) changes that paradigm, creating a system and infrastructure to organize and facilitate the reutilization of leftover pallets that are still in good enough condition to serve other purposes. “The team observed many usable pallets were being discarded. We knew significant savings were achievable with the right strategy, says Kyle Geber, QA material handler for Bob’s Red Mill.
With the new program, pallets are organized at production lines according to quality, then relegated to the appropriate section in the facility to be picked up for reuse within the plant. “Once we have accumulated a surplus or as needed, we then send a trailer of these PRO pallets next door to supplement our warehouse location,” Geber says. “We have been able to supply our warehouse and distribution center, alongside their own internal program, with solely recovered pallets from our headquarters.”
Instead of using pallets just once before sending them to a third party for disposal, Bob’s Red Mill now has a program in place to reuse those still in good enough condition to serve other purposes.Bob's Red Mill
After about a five-month process R&D phase, Bob’s Red Mill launched a test/pilot project in late November 2022, monitoring the results through February 2023. The company officially launched a facility-wide program on Feb. 21, 2023, at its headquarters in Milwaukie, Ore., then launched a secondary program with its distribution center at the start of June 2023.
With a dedicated team focused on pallet recovery, BRM has been able to achieve projected savings despite the price of new pallets decreasing. The effect on BRM’s pallet spend has been considerable, with the spend on new pallets reduced by 43% (normalized by production volume-spend per cases shipped). Included in the program savings is an agreement with the brand’s pallet vendor, United Pacific Forest Products (UPFP), which is able to buy back any PRO pallets that BRM cannot use internally, at a premium purchase price.
Since implementing the PRO program, BRM has seen savings of more than $520,000, resulting in a more than eightfold payback when considering labor costs and no capital costs required. “Our rate of new pallets ordered per cases shipped decreased 20%,” Geber notes. “With our continuous improvement mindset, we expect savings to accelerate in years to come.”
Register here for more sustainability tips from our SEMA finalists in our upcoming webinar on August 15.
Since the pallets BRM sources from its distributor are made to order, the slowing of that demand has not only impacted the food company’s bottom line, it has also had a direct effect on lumber harvesting in its region, Geber adds. BRM estimates 3,984 trees saved per year. About 45 truckloads of pallet shipments avoided each year equals an estimated 19,026 gallons of diesel fuel saved each year as well. PRO has also had a significant impact on the total recycling diversion rate at Bob’s Red Mill, which increased to 93.4% diversion from landfill for 2023.
The program was not without its challenges, Geber notes. “There were unsuccessful attempts to reuse pallets in the past,” he says. “The lack of success was directly tied to a lack of structure and clarity surrounding the importance of reuse and the possible cost savings.”
Other challenges faced in the implementation of PRO included minimal space, widespread interdepartmental training obstacles, allocated labor resources, and fire safety regulation parameters (with the storage of wooden pallets indoors). “We were able to overcome these challenges through constant communication and continuous improvement practices,” Geber says. “The success of the program has truly been a company-wide effort. From the support of executives and procurement to forklift drivers and production leadership, display of the Bob’s Red Mill core values of Respect, Accountability, Determination, and Teamwork shined through beautifully.”
As the company’s first all-encompassing sustainability initiative on the production floor, Geber sees PRO as a program everyone can get behind. “It serves as the beginning of a shift in workplace culture and, in its wake, we have begun to launch several other projects with much more enthusiasm,” he says. “We have shared the benefits of this program and encouraged ecological mindfulness with our employee-owners through word of mouth, infographics, and our monthly newsletter. Being an employee-owned company, the savings and revenue we’ve generated through PRO have contributed to an increase in our monthly profit-sharing payouts.”
Category Finalist New Capital Allowance Guidelines Help Conagra Reach Sustainability Goals
To meet its 2030 goals for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Conagra Brands is aiming for a 24% reduction over its baseline emissions compared to its fiscal 2020 baseline. To help reach those goals, Conagra created its Sustainability Capital Allowance capital spend program in June 2023 with a dedicated minimum capital expense budget of $9 million per year to fund energy efficiency projects focused on reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. With a five-year or better internal rate of return (IRR) per project, the program sets a directional target of nearly $2 million in savings and approximately 10,700 metric tons (MT) of CO2e emission reductions per fiscal year over the next six years.
Conagra’s Scope 1 emissions are GHG emissions from sources that Conagra owns or controls directly. Scope 2 emissions are indirect GHG emissions associated with Conagra’s purchase of electricity, steam, heat, or cooling. With these scopes in mind, the focus of Conagra’s Sustainability Capital Allowance is to identify and fund thermal, boiler combustion, ammonia refrigeration, and air compressor systems efficiency and optimization projects, and to fund improvements to Conagra’s operation/maintenance practices. Under this program, Conagra has also approved solar and biogas microturbine projects at its plant in Irapuato, Mexico.
The Sustainability Capital Allowance funding pool is in addition to standard site capital funds, to provide an alternative resource to Conagra’s sites to undertake GHG emission reduction projects that Conagra expects will have significant sustainability as well as operational benefits. With dedicated capital funds available for all of Conagra’s owned or operated manufacturing sites and warehouses/distribution centers, the Sustainability Capital Allowance program builds on Conagra’s findings from a previous internal energy audit and applies sustainability-focused capital criteria.
“Internally, this program has created positive collaboration, innovation, and motivation from individuals because now there is a budget solely dedicated to energy efficiency projects,” says Christine Daugherty, vice president of sustainability at Conagra. “Projects that were previously identified but not approved under existing site capital policies have been brought to the top of the list and approved under the Sustainability Capital Allowance, as an example, our Irapuato, Mexico, biogas microturbines and solar panel projects.”
The Sustainability Capital Allowance provides a path for emission-reducing projects to be improved, Daugherty notes. While still requiring a modified internal rate of return (MIRR) for energy savings projects, the new program broadens the approval criteria to include consideration of emissions-reduction impacts as part of the capital approval process.
“During the first year of this program, we learned that due to the variability of utility costs, many identified projects were estimated to come in just under our MIRR requirement,” Daugherty says. “So, those projects are now being reviewed and approved for funding under the Sustainability Capital Allowance taking into account the potential impact to Conagra’s overall sustainability emissions goal. By doing this, we have the potential to realize other benefits that our standard capital approval process did not anticipate, including potential additional cost savings. A great example of this is a condensate return project completed at our facility in Imlay City [Mich.] that not only achieved its energy savings but has qualified for a utility rebate that improved the investment payback period from four to two years.”
Projects are submitted for funding under the Sustainability Capital Allowance on a monthly basis. As of April 2024, Conagra had committed to 12 energy-efficiency projects representing an approximate $5 million commitment with an expected impact of more than $1 million in energy savings and potential for an estimated 6,240 MT CO2e of combined Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions reduction per year.
From those 12 approved projects, Conagra has also identified potential environmental impactful per year savings of:
6 million gallons of water
5,868,419 kWh of electricity
32,316 million BTU of gas
“In addition to the expected more than $1 million of utility savings per year, these first 12 projects under the Sustainability Capital Allowance program are estimated to yield additional savings in the form of one-time utility rebates,” Daugherty says. “The combined fiscal 2024 project list is expected to receive more than $300,000 in rebates during fiscal 2025 from RTO or utility companies.”
To support the Sustainability Capital Allowance program, Conagra has created a project list database that is shared across the business. “Plants are able to share best practices and take ideas from other sites to be implemented at their own sites,” Daugherty notes. “As we move forward on this journey, there is an opportunity to allocate additional project management support to encourage more submissions to take full advantage of the dedicated funds.”
Category Finalist SunOpta Plant Reaches Goal of Zero Waste to Landfill
When SunOpta set a target to attain Zero Waste to Landfill at its manufacturing facilities, its Modesto, Calif., location embraced the challenge. This meant the team needed to achieve SunOpta’s definition of zero waste by diverting 90% of waste from landfill, which is no easy task.
“Waste is inevitable in the manufacturing process, but with a focus on continuously improving operations and enhancing operational resource management, we were able to achieve our goal at the Modesto facility,” says Levi Pomerantz, continuous improvement manager for SunOpta. “By prioritizing the optimization of solid waste management through efficient resource allocation, SunOpta has successfully reduced its environmental footprint.”
Recycling containers enable SunOpta to separate recycling by material.Jennefer Klennert
SunOpta oversees several waste streams at its Modesto location, striving to find the most preferred solution based on the Waste Management Hierarchy from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Pomerantz notes. To start work on its zero waste goals, SunOpta’s Modesto plant began an assessment of its waste streams and volumes in July 2022. Looking at the various waste streams, the team worked to identify reuse or recycle solutions for each type, creating relationships with recycling/reuse organizations.
“Our aim is to employ the optimal management practices for each waste stream, prioritizing alternatives to landfilling or combustion wherever feasible,” he says. “In pursuit of this goal, we collaborate with several recycling and waste collection companies.”
In cases where there were no other reasonable options for recycle or reuse, the plant contracted for a waste-to-energy solution. The Modesto facility achieved its Zero Waste to Landfill verification from a third-party contractor before the end of November.
In 2023, the Modesto facility recycled slightly more than 50% of its total waste, amounting to 2,860 tons. The remaining amount was responsibly managed through a burn-to-energy facility, which effectively converted waste into electrical energy, benefiting the local utility grid. In all, about 5,709 tons of solid waste were diverted from landfills.
Dedicated waste and cardboard bins are placed strategically on the factory floor in SunOpta’s Modesto facility.Jennefer Klennert
The environmental stewardship doesn’t end there, Pomerantz says, noting that all wood pallets are recycled and refurbished as part of the company’s sustainable practices. The Modesto facility also found a way to leverage the byproducts of its soy extraction process, with about 2,849 tons of discharge sold to a local agriculture company for repurposing as animal feed.
“This strategic approach not only minimizes waste but also contributes to revenue streams, aligning with our dual objectives of environmental responsibility and economic efficiency,” Pomerantz says.
With many of the program’s requirements already part of its practices, the Modesto facility was able to achieve Zero Waste to Landfill in just four months. Additionally, the program was integrated into existing operations without incurring any additional costs. “By optimizing resource utilization and implementing innovative waste management practices, we have successfully mitigated environmental impact without compromising our bottom line,” Pomerantz says.
Note: Six of SunOpta’s seven manufacturing plants have achieved zero waste to landfill.
Processor/Supplier Partnership Category Winner New Pump for Turkey Processing Sanitation System Saves Resources
Virginia Poultry Growers Cooperative (VPGC), based in Hinton, Va., is an independent coop that processes poultry for about 200 turkey growers throughout the Shenandoah Valley region. One critical component of VPGC’s turkey processing plant, the food processing washdown and sanitation system, was experiencing frequent pump failures, costing $40,000 to $50,000 a year in maintenance.
“My major pain point with our old high-pressure pump system was reliability,” says Phil Miller, engineering manager at VPGC. “The pumps would last anywhere from maybe six months to a year, and we’d have to replace them.”
The fix, however, provided not only more reliable performance but a more efficient product as well, reducing energy consumption by about 50%. A Grundfos multi-pump Hydro HP system, designed specifically for high-pressure water demands in food and beverage plants, was installed under the guidance of Grundfos and solutions provider Carotek. Along with a CU352 controller, the pump system accommodates both low-flow and high-flow demands, with variable-frequency drives to help provide the system pressure needed while using the minimum amount of horsepower for energy efficiency.
The two 150 hp pitot tube pumps used previously supplied 300 gpm at 1,000 psi, deemed unnecessary. The new solution includes two 15 hp jockey pumps for low flows. They deliver 400 gpm at 680 psi, and are controlled and monitored by the CU352 controller.
Tommy Pierce from Grundfos (orange vest) discusses the new Hydro HP high-pressure pump system with VPGC’s Phil Miller (middle) and Carotek’s Steve Floyd.Grundfos
At VPGC, there are times requiring only low flows of less than 60 gpm, such as during first shift production. The CU352 controls all eight pumps on the system, saving energy by running a jockey pump during lower demand periods and larger pumps at higher peak periods when more water is needed.
Sanitation time remains unaffected despite the 320 psi less pressure of the jockey pumps. “While reducing pressure, maintaining operational effectiveness, especially in sanitation processes, remained paramount,” says Tommy Pierce, senior sales engineer for Grundfos.
The implementation of the new pump system had several positive environmental impacts for VPGC. The savings from reduced energy consumption are calculated at $52,445 a year. The system’s improved efficiency also results in a reduction of CO2 emissions, and the use of lower water pressure helps to conserve water. There is an assumption for lower chemical usage as well.
Based on the energy savings alone, ROI of the pump system is expected to be 3.8 years. The additional savings on wear/part replacement over a five-year period bring that ROI closer to 2.2 years.
“Overall, this installation positively impacted the environment by improving energy efficiency, reducing resource consumption, lowering possible chemical usage, and enabling financial support for further operational efforts,” Miller says.
The team has learned some lessons along the way, including better understanding the need for a larger-flow jockey pump for smoother hydraulic hand-off and better pressure control. They also found that bleeding a small amount of water back to the supply tank during low-flow periods aids in cooling jockey pumps. Programming a lower pressure set point during low-flow demand periods enhances energy savings by reducing friction losses in the piping system.
Discover the Top Sustainability Winner at PACK EXPO International
Hear more from our 2024 Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Award winners at a special session during PACK EXPO International, and find out who’s taking home the top prize. Join us Tuesday, Nov. 5, at 4 p.m. on the Processing Innovation Stage at PACK EXPO International. After the SEMA presentations, hear about our Manufacturing Innovation Award finalists too, and stay for the reception afterward.
ProFood World want to hear about your current sustainability projects. The submission deadline and eligibility requirements for the next Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards will be announced this fall at pfwgo.to/sema.
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Instead of using pallets just once before sending them to a third party for disposal, Bob’s Red Mill now has a program in place to reuse those still in good enough condition to serve other purposes.Bob's Red Mill
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