AMI honors food industry participants with two separate awards. The Environmental Achievement Award, introduced this year, recognizes continued achievement in environmental stewardship by facilities that go beyond AMI’s environmental compliance requirements in five categories.

Eight Smithfield Foods facilities in six states received this award for exceeding AMI’s compliance standards for environmental outreach to the public; pollution prevention; resource conservation; sustainability; and training programs.

AMI’s two-year-old Environmental Recognition Award celebrates companies that assess their own environmental challenges and develop unique solutions that encourage continuous improvement. Thirty-six Smithfield Foods facilities in 13 states earned this accolade.

In citing Smithfield and other industry winners, J. Patrick Boyle, AMI’s president and chief executive officer, said, “The steps taken by these plants demonstrate innovative strategies that have produced measurable results in the environment. They are a model for the industry as a whole and have great application for other plants."

In addition, the state of Virginia’s 11th annual Governor’s Environmental Excellence Awards singled out Gwaltney of Portsmouth, Gwaltney of Smithfield and Smithfield Ham & Products for their environmental projects in the category for large manufacturers. GEEA encourages excellence in environmental management by recognizing achievements that go beyond compliance toward environmental stewardship.

“I am very proud of the ongoing environmental stewardship efforts of our employees, and they deserve all the credit for these accomplishments,” said C. Larry Pope, chief executive officer of Smithfield Foods.

“We take our social responsibilities very seriously, and we are committed to taking steps at all our facilities to sustain and enhance the environment in the communities where we live and work,” Pope said.

AMI Environmental Achievement Award

The Smithfield Foods facilities, their winning categories and their stewardship efforts:

• Smithfield Packing Co., Plant City, Fla., environmental outreach to the public; as part of World Water Monitoring Day, teamed with sixth grade students to sample local water bodies.
• Smithfield Transportation, Smithfield, Va., pollution prevention; began using a fuel additive to decrease vehicular fuel emissions.
• Sun Land Beef, Tolleson, Ariz., resource conservation; launched efforts to reduce energy, recycle water and eliminate the use of groundwater.
• Packerland Packing, Green Bay, Wis., resource conservation; installed boiler to collect biogas (methane) generated by the wastewater system and use it as an alternate fuel source.
• Gwaltney of Smithfield, Smithfield, Va., resource conservation; installed plant recycling equipment that resulted in saving more than 18 million gallons of water annually.
• Smithfield Transportation, Tar Heel, N.C., sustainability; switch to compressed nitrogen to extend the life of tires.
• Smithfield Packing Co., Landover, Md., sustainability; installed equipment to collect and reuse ‘pickle’ solution used to flavor hams, saving water and reducing wastewater.
• Smithfield Packing Co. Environmental Affairs, Smithfield, Va., training programs; developed a newsletter that is sent to each company facility to provide useful environmental information.

AMI Environmental Recognition Award

The 36 Smithfield Foods facilities that earned AMI’s Environmental Recognition Award include: Farmland Foods, Carroll and Denison, Iowa, Crete, Neb., Independence, Mo., Monmouth, Ill., New Riegel, Ohio, Salt Lake City, Utah, Springfield, Mass. and Wichita, Kan.; John Morrell & Co., Great Bend, Kan., San Jose, Calif., Sioux City, Iowa and Sioux Falls, S.D.; Gwaltney of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Va.; and Gwaltney of Smithfield, Smithfield, Va.

Others include: Northside Foods, Arnold, Pa. and Cumming, Ga.; Packerland Packing, Green Bay, Wis. and Plainwell, Mich.; Patrick Cudahy, Inc., Cudahy, Wis.; Smithfield Packing, Benson, Kinston, Wilson and Tar Heel, N.C., Salem, Bedford and Smithfield, Va., Plant City, Fla., and Landover, Md.; Smithfield Transportation, Smithfield, Va. and Tar Heel, N.C.; Stadler’s Country Hams, Elon, N.C.; Stefano Foods, Charlotte, N.C.; Sun Land Beef, Tolleson, Ariz.; Smithfield Foods, Clayton, N.C. and Madison, Fla.

Governor’s Environmental Excellence Awards

GEEA is supported by Virginia’s governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Virginia Manufacturers Association (VMA).

The winning Smithfield Foods facilities, their awards and environmental projects:

• Gwaltney of Portsmouth, silver award; upgraded the brine chilling system to reduce water use by 1.54 million gallons per year.
• Gwaltney of Smithfield, bronze award; same project that won AMI Environmental Achievement award (see above).
• Smithfield Ham & Products, bronze award; installed a system to burn used oil for heat, thereby recycling waste oil and reducing propane usage.

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