Restoring native prairie at Tyson’s Union City plant

Tyson Foods Inc. in Union City, Tennessee, handles a challenging load and hosts a unique natural refuge.  

As part of the 2022 U.S. Poultry & Egg Association’s Clean Water Awards, Tyson’s Union City operation was recognized as an honorable mention with distinction in the full treatment category.

The full treatment category covers plants treating wastewater in accordance with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, which allows facilities to discharge into a receiving stream or final land application system. To be eligible, a facility must have a minimum of two years of no significant non-compliances or notices of violations or any other type of enforcement action. Judging is based upon training, unique processes utilized for treatment, community outreach, wildlife management, water conservation and general environmental stewardship.

Wastewater treatment

The Union City Complex processes about 260,000 birds per day at an average weight of 7.6 pounds. It treats an average flow of 900,000 gallons of wastewater per day. MacKenzie Crain, Tyson Foods' complex environmental manager, said the complex opened in 1997. The wastewater facility was remodeled and expanded in 2018 to better serve the plant’s seven further processing lines.

All told, Richardson said, the facility harvests 1.3 million birds per week and its frying lines produce 9 million pounds of finished product per week. The wastewater operation treats and discharges about 11.9 million gallons of water to the north fork of the Obion River per week.

Back 40 

On the site of the Union City complex, near its hatchery, Tyson hosts a project it calls the back 40. It’s a 40-acre plot of land dedicated to prairie restoration it created in collaboration with the nearby University of Tennessee at Martin.

The site is home to native grasses and creates a natural habitat for common wildlife. In the fall, university students will install bird boxes to provide nesting areas for native blue birds.

 

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