Smithfield Foods — Committed to Protecting the Environment
Providing good food responsibly means going above and beyond to be good stewards of the environment. Our commitment to environmental leadership is reflected in our ISO 14001 certification, the gold standard for environmental management, as well as in these other areas:
- Implemented over 150 individual projects in 2007 resulting in reduced water usage, air emissions and greenhouse gas emissions, improved energy efficiency and increased recycling
- Instituted a Web-based training program to provide standardized training and certification for each processing facility's Environmental Coordinator
- Created a Bioenergy Task Force to explore alternative energy options
- Participated in a pilot project on our company-owned farms to convert methane into electricity
- Implemented new metrics software to better monitor and measure environmental performance
- Received approval for two additional facilities to join the EPA’s Performance Track Program
Environmental Management System
At our processing facilities and our livestock production subsidiary Murphy-Brown we use an organized Environmental Management System to identify and manage every part of our operations that could have an effect on the environment. The focus is not only on compliance with applicable rules and regulations, but also on finding ways to continuously improve. EMS successes to date include:
- 600 million gallons of water saved on average per year thanks to a 26 percent reduction in fresh water usage at more than 300 company-owned farms in North Carolina and Virginia
- 75 percent reduction in energy used to keep piglets warm during their first three weeks by replacing heat lamps with energy-efficient heat pads at all company-owned farms
- 43 percent projected savings in lighting costs over a three-year period at all Murphy-Brown production and support facilities as a result of replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lighting
- 1.2 million fewer miles driven and 250,000 fewer gallons of fuel used thanks to new routing software that calculates the shortest routes from feed mills to farms
- For 2006, 470,523 decatherms, or 130 billion BTUs, of natural gas saved by capturing methane at five company plants to fuel modified steam boilers, offsetting greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 196,000 metric tons
- For 2006 more than 24,000 tons of cardboard recycled
- In Fiscal Year 2007 our processing facilities reduced water consumption by 293 million gallons
- In Fiscal Year 2007, further reduced air pollutants by 3,204,000 pounds