Perdue Farms announced that its food-producing facility in Washington, Indiana, has earned GreenCircle Zero Waste to Landfill certification, making it the first U.S. turkey processing facility to earn this important third-party environmental validation. During the audit period – between May, 2021 to April, 2022 – GreenCircle validated that the Indiana operation diverted 100% of its waste from going to landfills starting in January of 2022, and kept nearly 155 million pounds from landfills during the total audit period.
GreenCircle is ISO 17065 compliant, following industry requirements for bodies certifying products, processes, and services.
GreenCircle completed extensive audits and assessments of all waste streams at the facility, including hazardous and non-hazardous materials, inspection of all waste receptacles, and assessment of all third-party waste management companies to confirm management methods and diversion rates. 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 beneficial reuse of cardboard, paper and feathers, as a few examples.
"The certification of our Indiana operation reflects the effort behind achieving our company's vision to be the most trusted name in food and agricultural products, and our commitment to being good stewards of our environment," said Drew Getty, vice president of environmental sustainability and government relations for Perdue Farms. "We continue working to expand our zero waste to landfill efforts to additional operations, and our progress to reduce our environmental impact in our operations represents our company's holistic approach to responsible and sustainable practices."
"This achievement required an enormous collective effort from our team here, and we are tremendously proud to contribute to the company's overall goals to reduce our environmental impact," said Brandon Bottorff, director of operations at Perdue's Washington, Indiana facility. "The GreenCircle team's expertise helped us solidify best practices and processes for achieving our goals as well as continuous improvement."
In 2018, Perdue Farms established aggressive five-year environmental sustainability goals, including improving its solid waste diversion from landfills by 90% by 2023. Today, the company has diverted more than 94% of solid waste from landfills.
About Perdue Farms
We're a fourth-generation, family owned, U.S. food and agriculture company. Through our belief in responsible food and agriculture, we are empowering consumers, customers, and farmers through trusted choices in products and services. The premium protein portfolio within our Perdue Foods business, including our flagship Perdue brand, Niman Ranch, Panorama Organic Grass-Fed Meats, Coleman Natural, and Yummy, as well as our pet brands, Spot Farms and Full Moon, is available through various channels including retail, foodservice, club stores, and direct-to-consumer. Perdue AgriBusiness is an international agricultural products and services
