Hormel Foods Reduced Packaging by 21.8 Million Pounds

July 26, 2012

Hormel Foods Corp. surpassed its packaging minimization and water consumption goals as part of its five-year plan, but missed its energy reduction goal and greenhouse gas emissions goal.

“The last five years have been rewarding, as we achieved significant reductions on several key sustainability metrics; challenging, as we reported data that had not previously been calculated; and enlightening, as the process provided an opportunity for us to take a fresh look at long established policies and procedures,” said Jeffrey M. Ettinger, chairman of the board, president and CEO.

The company’s established its first set of five-year goals, which ended in 2011, and has announced it second set of goals. The new packaging, water, solid waste, air and energy goals became effective in fiscal 2012 and are being measured against base year 2011 at company-owned and international manufacturing locations.

Hormel exceeded its original goal of reducing packaging by 4 million pounds annually from 2006 to 2011. The company reduced packaging by an average of 4.4 million pounds per year for a total of 21.8 million pounds. Its new goal is to reduce product packaging by 25 million pounds by 2020.

It’s five-year goal was to reduce water consumption at U.S. manufacturing facilities by 10 percent by end of fiscal year 2011 using fiscal year 2006 as a benchmark. Hormel exceeded that goal as well, reducing water consumption by 15 percent in fiscal year 2011 compared to 2006 levels.

The company met its water use reduction goal one year early by reducing water use 11 percent in 2010 compared to 2006 levels and now again in 2011 with a 15 percent reduction, the company reported. The second set of goals includes reducing water use by another 10 percent by 2020.

Hormel slightly missed its solid waste goal to increase recycling to 50 percent of total waste by November 2011 using fiscal year 2006 as a baseline. Its recycling rate was 46 percent at the close of fiscal 2011 compared to 41 percent at the close of fiscal 2010.

The company, however, exceeded its waste-to-landfill goal, reducing solid waste to landfills by 29 percent in 2011 compared to 2006 levels, 19 points ahead of its 10 percent goal. The new goal is to further reduce waste to landfills by 10 percent by 2020.

The manufacturer decreased greenhouse gas emissions 5 percent compared to fiscal year 2009, missing it 10 percent goal. The new goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by10 percent by 2020.

Indirect energy consumption increased 1 percent in fiscal year 2011 compared to 2006 levels, while direct energy consumption decreased by 1 percent compared to 2006 levels, significantly missing its original goal of a 10 percent reduction. The new goal is to reduce non-renewable energy use by10 percent by 2020.

“While we did not meet our initial aggressive energy reduction goal, we will continue to emphasize energy conservation throughout the organization,” said Thomas E. Raymond, director of environmental sustainability. “Our efforts with the first five-year goals have led to notable improvements in our energy program and have given us knowledge that we will apply to our ongoing reduction efforts.”

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