Ohio Ag Connection - Wyandot Initiatives Enhance Conservation, Minimize Impact

Ohio Ag News Headlines

Wyandot Initiatives Enhance Conservation, Minimize Impact
Ohio Ag Connection - 12/14/2018

Sourcing renewable energy, recycling substantial amounts of materials, and converting used oils into biofuels top the list of resource conservation measures that make Wyandot Snacks a sustainability leader in the food manufacturing sector.

Wyandot has reduced its carbon footprint significantly over the last two years by developing a business model and workplace culture that reflect its commitment to growth and sustainability.

Citing specific benchmark achievements, President and CEO Rob Sarlls noted that Wyandot derives 100 percent of its electrical needs from wind-driven renewable resources. It also employs energy-saving, motion-activated LED illumination throughout its factory -- saving more than one million kilowatt hours of electricity each year.

Additionally, the Company annually:

- recycles more than 600,000 pounds of materials,

- diverts four million pounds of waste into animal feed,

- converts 280,000 pounds of used oil into biofuels, and

- processes more than half a million gallons of waste-water containing oils into fertilizer.

The Company has increased its recycling program by ten percent thus far in 2018, and reduced its landfill, food, and product waste by almost 200,000 pounds over the past two years.

Ben Hoblet, Wyandot plant engineering manager and co-head of the Company's sustainable resource team, said the benefits are evident companywide. "They enhance our ability to implement operational improvements, facilitate investment in new plants, equipment and technology, and expand manufacturing capacity. Importantly, they also help create new jobs."

Operationally, Wyandot has initiated procedures that substantially reduce food and landfill waste, lessen meal scrap (known as food waste), and minimize the strain on local waste water treatment plants by limiting suspended solids and biochemical oxygen demand (BODs), among other measures. According to Tim Meade, continuous improvement manager and a key leader in Wyandot's waste reduction initiatives, "Water reduction initiatives on our tortilla chip lines will redirect 4.2 million gallons annually to a clear corn solids waste belt. And beginning next year, the recycling of paper ingredient bags will cut landfill waste by 105,000 pounds annually."

In bolstering its recycling program, Wyandot partners with several firms:

- Renergy Inc., a bioenergy company, recycles 572,000 gallons of Wyandot's high-in-solids grease water into methane gas and fertilizer annually.

- ReConserve, Inc. helps Wyandot recycle waste streams to produce high-energy livestock feed.

- Ohio-based G.A. Winter & Sons converts waste oil to biofuels and animal feed ingredients.

- Price Farms Organic, Inc. converts more than 5.8 million pounds of Wyandot's wet corn cook waste into food compost annually.

- Sims Brothers Recycling, based in Marion, helps Wyandot recycle more than 600,000 pounds of materials each year, a figure expected to increase in 2019.

"Our customers in the fast-growing better-for-you snack industry appreciate that as tastes evolve and new products emerge, Wyandot helps them identify trends and stay ahead of the consumer growth curve," said Sarlls. "They also recognize that each and every Wyandot associate is committed to ensuring we remain good stewards of the environment."

Other Ohio Headlines