Hormel Foods Beats Waste Goal 6 Years Early

Hormel Foods beat its goal to reduce solid waste by 20 percent — the company had originally pledged to reduce solid waste to landfills by 3,500 tons by 2020, or 10 percent compared to a 2011 baseline — and has exceeded the goal six years early, according to its 2014 Hormel Foods Corporate Responsibility Report.

In 2014 alone, the company’s operations implemented projects that reduced the amount of solid waste sent to landfills by 1,500 tons. The company plans to reevaluate and establish a new goal related to solid waste and will report the goal/progress in next year’s report.

Other highlights from the report, all measured against a 2011 baseline, include:

• Reduced more than 2,500 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from domestic manufacturing operations (32 percent of goal when combined with previous progress).
• Reduced energy use by 17,400 MMBtu (45 percent of goal when combined with previous progress).
• Reduced water use by 0.082 billion gallons (67 percent of goal when combined with previous progress).
• Reduced product packaging by 8.27 million pounds (68 percent of goal when combined with previous progress).