Perdue Farms announced that its turkey production plant located in Washington, Indiana earned the GreenCircle Zero Waste to Landfill certification on August 3, 2022. The achievement makes it the first U.S. turkey processing facility and the third Perdue facility to earn the accreditation.
To meet the certification requirements, Perdue diverted 100% of its waste from going to landfill. Additionally, a third-party team audited the company’s waste and material management.
The plant was audited between May 2021 and April 2022. GreenCircle confirmed that the facility started diverting 100% of its waste, amounting to almost 155 million lbs., beginning in January 2022.
During the 12-month audit period, GreenCircle assessed the facility’s waste streams including hazardous and non-hazardous materials, waste receptacles and all of Perdue’s third-party waste management companies. Additionally, the audit covered personal protective equipment worn by associates, the company’s cardboard recycling stream and the reuse of cardboard, paper and feathers.
“This achievement required an enormous collective effort from our team here, and we are tremendously proud to contribute to the company’s overall goals to reduce our environmental impact,” stated Brandon Bottorff, Perdue Farms Director of Operations for the facility. “The GreenCircle team’s expertise helped us solidify best practices and processes for achieving our goals as well as continuous improvement.”
In 2018, the processor announced its plan to reduce its landfill flow by 90% and achieve the zero waste certification in at least five of its facilities. Perdue’s Lewiston, North Carolina, operation earned the certification in 2020 followed by its Petaluma, California operation in 2021.
Drew Getty, Perdue Farms Vice President of Environmental Sustainability and Government Relations, stated, “The certification of our Indiana operation reflects the effort behind achieving our company’s vision to be the most trusted name in food and agricultural products, and our commitment to being good stewards of our environment,”
“We continue working to expand our zero waste to landfill efforts to additional operations, and our progress to reduce our environmental impact in our operations represents our company’s holistic approach to responsible and sustainable practices,” said Getty.
