PET Food Processing - March 2019 - 68

OPERATIONS

Purina added balers
and allocated space in
the plant to accommodate collection areas
for materials destined
for a second life.
Nestlé Purina

And third, as we were kicking off the initiative, we held
events in breakrooms for all shifts where associates
could ask questions and learn more about the commitment and our plans, in addition to sharing ideas. We
held a drawing and provided incentives, such as reusable
water bottles and cloth grocery bags, to generate excitement and momentum."

in the US. Production is expected to begin later in
2019. "The project has involved a variety of renovations inside and out, including landscaping,"
Sandhu says. "Through a composting partner of our
Atlanta pet food factory, we were able to turn materials
discarded from their operations into mulch to beautify
the grounds of our new factory location in Hartwell."

Call for creativity

Second life

Many people working with the same focus to reduce,
reuse, recycle or recover value out of manufacturing
waste streams and resource consumption have come
up with some clever solutions to make small improvements along the way. WHIMZEES, for example,
works with a nearby biogas facility that uses the grass
from its property to create sustainable energy and
lessen the company's use of fossil fuels. To truly minimize its waste, WHIMZEES reviewed all its outputs to
determine what's not being used that could be. "One
of the solutions we're most proud of is using the heat
produced from our refrigerators to warm raw materials that would ultimately create new WHIMZEES allnatural daily dental chews, allowing us to minimize
both waste and spend on additional energy for manufacturing," Mueller-Ohl says.
In Clinton, a portion of that Purina facility's waste
is being used by a local cement producer to help
power a kiln. Purina is also in the process of renovating a former textile manufacturing facility in
Hartwell, Georgia, to become Purina's 21st factory

PET FOOD PROCESSING | March 2019 | www.petfoodprocessing.net

Managing resources on a circular basis is critical to
reducing waste generated as a result of manufacturing
and processing. A little attention and some creativity
is being applied to find uses for previously unwanted
organic product streams. Small companies are developing creative solutions and testing the financial viability of their ideas.
In an effort to lessen its carbon footprint, Pacific
Foods, Tualatin, Oregon, uses the spent byproducts
from crushing soybeans for the company's non-dairy
beverages to make high-protein animal feed. Giving
organic materials a second life is helping Pacific
Foods close the loop on its waste streams.
Earth Energy Renewables, Austin, Texas, is another company focused on giving byproducts of food
processing a second life. Working with Texas A&M
University, Earth Energy Renewables has developed a
natural fermentation process using secondary streams
of organic material from food processing to produce
molecules - either in the form of fatty acids or as edible oils (i.e. triglycerides).

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PET Food Processing - March 2019

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