ConAgra announced its annual Zero Waste Champion award winners
ConAgra Foods announced its annual Zero Waste Champion award winners, as the company recognized 34 facilities that have reached a major environmental milestone: diverting more than 95 percent of solid waste from landfills through donation, reuse and recycling.
The facilities represent more than 80 percent of the company’s total waste generation and have helped the company achieve a 94 percent waste diversion rate in fiscal year 2015.
“In our fifth year of this program, we continue to see impressive engagement and commitment from our plant employees, who are key to achieving this kind of success,” said Gail Tavill, vice president, Packaging and Sustainable Productivity, ConAgra Foods. Manufacturer’s zero waste strategy focuses on strategically reducing the amount of waste generated in facilities and avoiding the creation of landfill materials by finding the most effective use for unavoidable wastes via donation, recycling, animal feed or other value streams. ConAgra Foods’ 2020 sustainability vision includes reducing waste generated by one billion pounds, while maintaining its commitment to diverting valuable materials from landfills. ConAgra Foods prefers the term “by-products” rather than “waste” to encourage imaginative ways to donate, reuse and recycle materials.
ConAgra Foods’ 2015 Zero Waste Champion award winners include: American Falls, Idaho; Battle Creek, Mich.; Brantford, Canada; Boardman, Ore. (two winners – Boardman East and Boardman West); Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Connell, Wash.; Columbia, S.C.; Cranbury, N.J.; Delta, Canada; Dresden, Canada; Excelsior Springs, Mo.; Forest Park, Ga.; Hamburg, Iowa; Hanover, Penn.; Hermiston, Ore.; Irapuato, Mexico; Kent, Wash.; Lake View, Iowa; Lakeville, Minn.; Lancaster, Ohio; Maple Grove, Minn.; Park Rapids, Minn.; Pasco, Wash. (two winners – Columbia Basin Blends and the Pasco plant); Paterson, Wash.; Quincy, Wash.; Richland, Wash.; Sparks, Nev.; Taber, Canada; Tolleson, Ariz.; Tonawanda, N.Y.; Twin Falls, Idaho; and Warden, Wash.
Few days ago, ConAgra Foods announced plans to pursue the separation of the Company into two independent public companies: one comprising its robust consumer portfolio of diverse and leading brands and the other comprising its market leading foodservice portfolio of innovative frozen potato products.
The consumer brands business will be renamed Conagra Brands, Inc. (“Conagra Brands”) and the frozen potato business will operate under the Lamb Weston name. Immediately following the transaction, which is expected to be completed in the fall of 2016, ConAgra Foods shareholders will own shares of both independent companies. The transaction is expected to be structured as a spin-off of the Lamb Weston business, tax-free to the Company and its shareholders.
“The decision to separate into two pure-play companies reflects our ongoing commitment to implementing bold changes in order to deliver sustainable growth and enhanced shareholder value,” said Sean Connolly, president and chief executive officer, ConAgra Foods.
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