Taylor Farms Gonzales launched the ZeroWaste Program in April 2017. Over the lifetime of the program, the facility decreased landfill contribution by 56%, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30,923 MTCO2E
4. Achieving True Zero Waste Through Emission Reduction In June of 2018, Taylor Farms became the industry’s first fresh food company to achieve TRUE (Total Resource Use and Efficiency) Platinum certification for zero waste. “This is the highest level of zero waste certification available, and we are incredibly proud of the accomplishment,”
said Nicole Flewell, Taylor Farms’ director of sustainability. “Through our efforts we were able to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 30,923 metric tons of CO 2 . That’s equivalent to taking 6,510 cars off the road each year.” Spearheaded by Flewell, the Gonzales Green Team and employees worked together to reduce incoming materials, reuse existing materials when possible
and recycle what remained throughout the facility, completing this initiative in 14 months. A key element of this program focused on working upstream to eliminate wax carton from the supply chain. Led by the raw product procurement team, the group worked with Taylor Farms’ growing partners to move to 100 percent reusable bins and totes, eliminating all single use and wax cartons.
Taylor Farms Gonzales joined the Taylor Fresh Foods family of operating companies in 2008; today, the 192,000 sq. ft. facility produces 1.4 to 4 million lbs. of fresh produce each week
14 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2019
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