Three Hershey plants achieve Zero Waste to Landfill

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Three Hershey plants achieve Zero Waste to Landfill


By Greentech
Lead Team: Hershey, a producer of quality chocolates, announced that its efforts
to enhance sustainability through recycling and waste management make positive
impact as three of its manufacturing facilities in Pennsylvania have achieved
Zero-Waste-to-Landfill (ZWL) status.

Two of the
facilities are in Hershey, Pa., and the third is in Hazleton, Pa.

The Hershey
Company started its first recycling center in Hershey in 1937. The company’s
Hazleton plant achieved ZWL status this month. The West Hershey plant became a
ZWL facility in October 2011.

These plants
recycle approximately 90 percent of the waste generated from operations and the
remainder is converted to energy at nearby waste-to-energy incinerators located
in Bainbridge, Pa., and Harrisburg, Pa.

“We are
proud of our role as stewards of the environment and of our progress in eliminating
waste from our operations. We achieved ZWL at these facilities through a
rigorous process of eliminating waste, recycling and converting waste to
energy. Our employees understand the importance of sustainability across our
company and are working together to reach our reduction goals,” said Terence
O’Day, senior vice president of Global Operations at Hershey.  

The company
also added biogas capturing equipment at four of its U.S. facilities: Stuarts
Draft, Va.; Lancaster, Pa.; Hazleton, Pa.; and Robinson, Ill. The equipment
captures biogas produced through onsite wastewater treatment and converts it to
energy, decreasing the company’s reliance on fossil fuels.

As part of
its recycling and energy efficiency programs, Hershey unveiled two sets of solar
arrays at facilities in Hershey, Pa., that generate an estimated 318
megawatt-hours (MWh) per year and will eliminate hundreds of metric tons of
greenhouse gases each year. In 2009, the company committed to reducing its
greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent by the end of 2011 based on 2008
emission levels and is on track to achieve this goal by the end of the year.


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