WASHINGTON – Officials from Perdue’s Corporate Headquarters were in Washington today to help announce that Perdue is officially GreenCircle Zero Waste to Landfill certified.
This means 100 percent of the waste materials leaving the facility are diverted from landfill via GreenCircle’s acceptable means of diversion such as reuse, recycling, or incineration for energy, also known as waste-to-energy.
This will make Perdue the first turkey processing facility with this special certification.
The Green Circle Presentation took place at the plant today at 11:00 a.m.
Perdue Farms has established aggressive five-year environmental sustainability goals, including diverting 90 percent of solid waste generated and not sent to landfills by 2022.
“The certification is important because it aligns with our vision to be the most trusted name in food and agriculture products and our goal to be good environmental stewards. It also continues our decades-long track record of environmental stewardship and responsible management of our resources,” said Vice President of Sustainability Steve Levitsky. “Our waste diversion goal is ambitious, and we chose GreenCircle because they have the most rigorous certification available on the market. As a company, Perdue is focused on continuous improvement, and Lewiston is just the beginning. We are planning to have five additional facilities go through the audit and certification process by the end of 2022.”
To receive certification, the plant went through a rigorous audit and assessment process, including an audit of all waste streams, an inspection of all waste receptacles, and an assessment of all third-party waste management companies to confirm management methods and diversion rates. Additionally, GreenCircle provided recommendations for improvement based on their findings.
“We commend Perdue’s commitment to transparency and continuous improvement,” says Tad Radzinski, Certification Officer at GreenCircle. “The goal of our Zero Waste to Landfill certification is to help companies understand where they are with waste minimization and zero waste programs. That information enables them to minimize waste and manage materials to reduce their environmental impact.”
Every aspect of the operations’ waste was assessed including the personal protective equipment worn by associates, the process used to minimize contamination of the cardboard recycling stream, and the reuse of oil onsite, just to name a few examples.
Learn more about the company’s progress on its environmental sustainability goals in the annual Company Stewardship Report.
