Conserving Resources

We rely on nature’s bounty to bring our products to millions of families and their pets across the country. Our direct connection to the earth’s resources reinforces our longstanding commitment to stewardship and responsible operation.

By minimizing the impacts of growing, processing, packaging, and distributing our products, we’re not only helping to protect the air, land, and water; we’re also ensuring our own long-term success. Many of the same initiatives that we’ve implemented to cut down on our use of energy, water, and materials also save money—meaning that what’s good for the environment is also good for our business.

We will continue to identify areas where we can improve, put new programs in place, and measure our progress. To effectively monitor our key environmental performance indicators, we established a baseline year of 2007 with a target year of 2016 in each of our priority focus areas:

Processing

• 10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) per ton of finished product from Del Monte Foods’ manufacturing, warehousing, and research & development facilities. As of 2012, we reduced our GHG footprint by 4%. Over the course of the years, beginning in 2007, our average total emissions are approximately 360,000 MTCO₂e (metric tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent) per year. We also continue to submit answers to the Carbon Disclosure Project Investor Survey. 

• 20% reduction in fresh water usage per ton of finished product from Del Monte Foods’ manufacturing, warehousing, and research & development facilities. As of 2012, we reached a 16% reduction rate.

• 75% reduction in solid waste going to landfill per ton of finished product from Del Monte Foods’ manufacturing, warehousing, and research & development facilities. Since 2007, we have increased our recycling efforts, partnered more efficiently with local haulers, and utilized waste-to-energy facilities to achieve a 77% reduction in solid waste going to landfill. As of March 2012, 60% of our pet plants, along with our Bloomsburg, PA distribution center, have been able to reach Virtually Zero Landfill by diverting more than 98% from reaching landfill!

Distribution

• 7% reduction in total greenhouse gas emissions through improved efficiency in Del Monte Foods' transportation network. We currently exceeded that goal by attaining a 14% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from our transportation network, and are currently re-evaluating the next reduction goal rate.

Packaging

• 15% reduction in packaging materials per pound of product. As of 2011, we achieved an 11% reduction in packaging materials.

We also took initial steps in analyzing greenhouse gas emissions along our supply chain. In 2009, we partnered with Climate Earth to assess our supply chain emissions. Our results conclude that approximately 85% of our emissions are attributed to the production of purchased ingredients and materials (Scope 3 according to World Resources Institute GHG Reporting Protocol). In 2012, we partnered with EcoDesk to engage our suppliers to work towards collectively reducing our footprints.