Role Model In Sustainability

In 2012, West Liberty Foods L.L.C. accomplished a feat to which few other companies can lay claim. The West Liberty, Iowa-based company achieved landfill-free status, and had that status verified by Ann Arbor, Mich.-based NSF International Strategic Registrations Ltd., for its facilities located in Tremonton, Utah, and Mount Pleasant, Iowa.

In a nutshell, the Tremonton facility diverted almost 3.5 million pounds of annual waste from the local landfill, while the Mount Pleasant facility diverted more than 2 million pounds. Less than 1 percent of the waste generated in these facilities now ends up in a landfill.

In a published case study, NSF called West Liberty Foods — a supplier of lunchmeat for foodservice and retail — "an industry role model and informed authority on corporate stewardship." But the achievement seems to be a natural extension of the company's overall commitment to sustainability.

"West Liberty Foods has always been committed to being a good corporate citizen in the communities and the surrounding areas that we operate in," explains Gerald Lessard, vice president and chief operating officer with the company. "Our sustainability efforts, as demonstrated by our ISO 14001 certification, have been in place since 2004. Maintaining the ISO 14001 certification has required that we demonstrate, on an annual basis, that we are continuing to reduce our consumables."

The road to landfill-free

Lessard says the success the company's team members have had in relation to the ISO 14001 process positioned West Liberty Foods for "the challenge of becoming landfill-free." The company essentially began with an idea and developed that idea into a tactical plan. And that plan created value across the supply chain and "seamlessly supports West Liberty Foods' mission statement of adding value for our members, business partners and consumers," he adds.

The process itself involved a number of decisions and audits, Lessard explains. First, team members had to determine exactly which waste products were being disposed of in landfills and classify those materials. Although West Liberty Foods already had a "significant recycling effort in place," that process spurred the company to step up recycling efforts.

"The question was, 'Where can we recycle these items?'" he says. "It was apparent that we needed to reach out and develop relationships with new parties that had an interest in these additional recyclable waste streams."

And that's exactly what the company did, Lessard notes, giving interested parties the chance to review the waste streams and weigh in on what they could and could not use.

But recycling was not the only avenue the company uncovered for waste reduction. For example, it identified an innovative waste-reduction avenue when it ran into some obstacles during the process related to food waste from the facilities' cafeterias, Lessard says.

"Ultimately, the solution was composting, but the solution was evasive at the time," he says. "The true depth of the team working simultaneously with our vendors provided the necessary resources to overcome all of the challenges that were presented in this journey."

Fortunately, sustaining the landfill-free status has not been as challenging as initially achieving it.

"Many of our team members have openly commented that they recycle at home and they want to at work," Lessard says. "They truly have embraced the strategy and are the key component of the initiative's success."

A positive for customers

The changes West Liberty Foods has put into place stand to benefit not only the environment, but also the company's retail private label customers. That's one reason the company communicates its sustainability commitments on all of its marketing and sales materials. Even its product samples "clearly outline" the company's efforts in the sustainability arena, explains Michael Quint, vice president and chief customer officer.

"Our customers benefit from West Liberty Foods' commitment to the environment in a number of ways," he explains. "First, there simply is the positive feeling associated with knowing that the company manufacturing your product has a commitment to the environment that has been demonstrated and verified. Second, from a practical standpoint, communicating [to shoppers] that your product was manufactured in a landfill-free environment has tangible benefits at the point of sale."

A number of West Liberty Foods' retail customers have expressed interest in communicating the landfill-free status on pack, Quint adds. But they have decided to wait until the company's remaining facility (located in West Liberty) achieves landfill-free status in December — when the entire company becomes landfill-free — to do so.

"Numerous options exist for retailers to communicate their brands' commitment to the environment," Quint adds, "with the positive benefits including increased sales and brand differentiation."

And another recent effort from West Liberty Foods also gives retailers a way to up the sustainability quotient within the store brand packaged lunchmeat space. The company's recloseable package performs as well as tubs, but uses 25 percent less plastic than they do, Lessard explains, and 33.7 percent less than the leading grocery retail tray package.

Forward-thinking

West Liberty Foods' quest to improve on the sustainability front is a continuing one. The push is evident even outside the facilities, in the corporate offices.

"Each area evaluates their business to find ways that we can be more sustainable and reduce our environmental impact," Lessard says. "We have assembled core teams at each facility, and they work to find ways we can reduce the use of consumables in our facilities. This can range from reducing electricity through the installation of new light fixtures [to] reducing water or paper usage."

Although reductions range from small to large, the overall impact over time becomes quite significant, he adds. And the company overall will keep challenging the norms of its industry.

"West Liberty Foods is truly an innovative company, whether it be in food safety, team member development, packaging innovation or manufacturing excellence," Lessard stresses. "One thing is certain: Whatever our next initiative, the past successes of our team have given our team members the increased confidence they need to position West Liberty Foods for success in whatever we do next."