West Liberty Foods achieves landfill-free packaging status

PackagingDigest

West Liberty Foods, L.L.C. announced that its West Liberty, IA, facility has successfully achieved "landfill free" status. This status was independently verified by NSF International Strategic Registrations Ltd. (NSF‐ ISR) and dated December 13, 2012, meaning that West Liberty Foods achieved their goal of becoming a "landfill free" company within one calendar year. The NSF‐ISR verification process was used to ensure that West Liberty Foods could demonstrate the total waste from its West Liberty facility entering the landfill was less than 1%.

West Liberty Foods is among the first companies in the United States to have its "landfill free" claim verified by a third party organization, a major milestone in the food industry. Through working to accomplish this status, the company's West Liberty, IA, facility has successfully diverted over 2 million pounds of annual waste from the local landfill. As the primary processing facility, the West Liberty location faced some unique challenges which were met head‐on by the team resulting in environmentally friendly solutions.

"The West Liberty team used innovation to convert soiled plastic in to a combustible material that would be accepted by the disposal incinerator," says Gerald Lessard, vice president and chief operating officer for West Liberty Foods. "The utilization of this technology exemplified the innovative character of West liberty Foods and our team members."

The West Liberty location is the last of the company's facilities to be verified as "landfill free", with the others being in Tremonton, Utah in March 2012 and Mount Pleasant, Iowa in July 2012. The company's combined total waste saved from the landfill annually is now at 7.5 million pounds-or roughly 312 residential dump trucks which represents waste from over 265,000 households.

"This accomplishment marks a significant milestone in the history of our company, our industry and our state," says Ed Garrett, President and CEO of West Liberty Foods. "Being ‘landfill free' is a testament to our team, and it is my hope that other companies will see our success here and undertake similar initiatives in their own businesses."

West Liberty Foods is committed to environmental excellence when serving its clients and the communities that it calls home. As a result of the success seen in Tremonton, Mount Pleasant, and West Liberty, the company plans to hold an event celebrating the success in the spring of 2013 at the facility in West Liberty, Iowa.

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