Natural food manufacturer develops system to boost recycling rate
By Heather Clancy | February 7, 2012, 3:04 AM PST
When it comes to wanting to do the right thing with waste management, it might be necessary for your company to take matters into its own hands.
That was the lesson learned by Pacific Natural Foods sustainability manager Rory Schmick when the natural foods manufacturer adopted a policy to increase its recycling rate and reduce the amount of waste it sends to landfill. The company, as part of its overall sustainability strategy, has embraced a zero-waste-to-landfill policy.
The impetus? Just five years ago, the company discovered that almost 60 percent of the waste produced in the Tualatin, Ore., manufacturing facility was being sent to landfill. That wasn’t a great position for a company in the natural foods industry. The reason? Food-contaminated packaging.
Schmick said he was surprised at the result of his company’s waste audit; he was also surprised to find there was no preexisting process or system to address it. So Pacific Natural Foods teamed up with a local equipment manufacturer to come up with its own solution. The system that the two companies developed (pictured above) cleans, crushes and prepares the packaging for recycling.
“We didn’t want to let the fact that there wasn’t an off-the-shelf system to hold us back,” Schmick said.
It took several months to refine the system, which came online in August 2011, Schmick said. After the first month of operation, Pacific Natural Foods was able to increase its recycling rate enough to get rid of the site’s 30-year trash compactor. The recycling rate is now more than 80 percent, and the company was able to save more than $100,000 in landfill tipping fees. The percentage of waste that the organization currently sends to landfill stands at around 12 percent.
Schmick estimated that his company’s investment will pay for itself in less than 24 months, which made it easier to justify with the Pacific Natural Foods executive team.
Schmick team, while celebrating this victory, is already looking for other improvements that can be made in long-time business practices at the 25-year-old company. ”No matter how well you are doing and not matter how much you think people know, there are always ‘leaks’ in the system,” Schmick said.
Searching for business sustainability improvements is a process that never ends.
(Photos of the package processing system courtesy of Pacific Natural Foods)
