Hormel reduces solid waste by 1,700 tons
Published 6:35 pm Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Hormel Foods Corp. is reporting it reduced its solid waste to landfills by 1,700 tons and greenhouse gas emissions by 11,000 metric tons last year.
The company released on Tuesday its 2012 Hormel Foods Corporate Responsibility Report, available at www.hormelfoods.com/csr, claiming those savings and that it donated more than $7.6 million in 2012 across all efforts with hunger, education and projects to enhance communities where company facilities are located.
“I am happy to share this year’s initiatives that have fueled our progress as a leading corporate citizen,” said Hormel President and CEO Jeff Ettinger. “We will continue to conduct business in a responsible manner following Our Way — the Hormel Foods values statement that defines how we operate every day in our approach to people, process, products, performance and philanthropy.”
Along with the solid waste and greenhouse gas reductions in 2012, Hormel also announced the reduction of 122 million gallons of water, 68,400 MMBtu of natural gas, and 7 million kWh of electricity. The reductions were due in large part to Hormel’s annual Environmental Sustainability Best of the Best competition among all company locations.
The Austin meatpacker also reduced energy use by 92,000 MMBtu, water use by 122 million gallons, product packaging by 4.1 million pounds and sodium levels in certain products.
The annual report focuses on the company’s commitment to being a responsible food manufacturer. This is Hormel’s sixth full report, which includes information on the company’s second set of environmental goals that span from 2012 to 2020 using 2011 as a benchmark. The report is self-declared and confirmed by the Global Reporting Initiative.
In honor of the launch of the seventh annual report, Hormel will feature an online contest. For every retweet on Twitter announcing the release of the 2012 report, the company will donate $7 to Feeding America up to $5,000.
Hormel Foods plans to continue reporting on its environmental and social performance annually; the next report will be released in May 2014 for data spanning November 2012 to October 2013.