Environmental Responsibility
Our commitment to compliance and the responsible use of natural resources runs deep.
Environmental Management
Environmental stewardship at Leprino Foods is about doing the right thing, accomplishing more with less and always striving to do better while ensuring the highest standards of quality.
Management Approach
Our environmental management system (EMS) emphasizes compliance, conservation and continual improvement driven by employee engagement and ongoing integration of best practices and new technologies. The EMS includes companywide and location-specific policies, standard procedures, performance measurement and audit processes.
Our team approach also includes third-party expert energy assessments to help identify ways we can save energy, resources and costs and to inform the development of plant-specific project portfolios.
Other aspects of our approach include:
Employee Engagement
Everyone has a role to play in upholding our commitment to the environment. Resource Conservation Teams at our plants and in our corporate office foster grassroots solutions for saving resources. Led by team champions, these passion-driven employees raise awareness about resource-smart behaviors and engage co-workers in finding low- and no-cost ways to save energy, water and other resources and to reduce waste.
Membership in the Colorado Green Business Network
Greeley and Fort Morgan each achieved certification as Gold-level Members in 2023.
Our Climate Commitment
Reducing our impact is driving our journey, and we will work relentlessly to achieve our targets.
Our Climate Action Trail Map outlines our path for achieving greenhouse gas (GHG) neutrality by 2050. Announced on Earth Day 2021, this commitment also solidifies our pledge to be responsible water stewards. Our 2030 GHG goals are to reduce absolute emissions from scope 1 and 2 (direct operations) by 30% and reduce emission intensity from scope 3 by 30% from a 2020 baseline. We also aim to reduce water intensity in gallons of water per 1,000 pounds of milk by 10% by 2025 (from a 2019 baseline) and 20% by 2030 (from a 2020 baseline).
Scope 3 emissions, or value chain emissions, represent nearly 95% of our carbon footprint. They include all sources beyond our scopes 1 and 2 boundary, i.e., those that occur both upstream and downstream of our activities.
In 2020, we worked with a sustainability firm to conduct a full GHG inventory to understand sources of emissions beyond our direct operations and to establish a baseline for goal setting. We then developed targeted strategies in 2021 to address the scope 3 sources that contribute the most to our footprint: Milk Supply and Non-Milk Supply.
Collaboration is a key aspect of both strategies. In 2022, we began implementing a supplier pledge program to engage with partners across our supply chain on collective climate action.
Delivering on our climate action commitments is one of our How to Thrive GR strategies. Our goals align with those of the U.S. dairy industry and global dairy sector, reinforcing our belief that our company, along with the dairy community, has a crucial role to play in reducing environmental impacts and promoting sustainable food systems.
Operations
Our strategies for reducing the GHG emissions associated with our direct operations (scope 1 and 2) build on the energy-saving approaches we’ve long pursued, while increasing attention on larger scale projects and the transition to cleaner sources of energy. A range of companywide initiatives, plant-specific projects and activities led by Resource Conservation Teams help us deliver reductions.
Key strategies to increase energy efficiency:
We are investing $50 million by 2025 in projects to optimize plant operations and lower energy use.
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Drive to ’25 operations
Work started under our Drive to ’25 operations goals continue to be implemented.
Third-party expert energy assessments
Assessments help us identify ways we can save energy and costs and inform the development of plant-specific portfolios of small to large projects.
Heat Recovery Systems
Heat recovery systems at our plants make the most of available energy. We are targeting the capture and use of heat from sources such as stack gases and wastewater to heat other equipment.
Lighting Projects
Lighting projects such as converting to LEDs and installing motion sensors deliver sizable energy reductions and cost savings companywide.
Milk Supply
We are partnering with our milk suppliers to encourage and support emissions reductions and increases in carbon sequestration.
Key strategies to reduce milk supply emissions
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Agricultural practice changes
Feed production and agricultural practice changes and initiatives to increase productivity, improve soil health, reduce runoff and increase soil carbon stocks.
Enteric emission reductions
Reduction of enteric methane emissions from dairy cows through approaches such as feed additives and optimization of feed rations.
Manure handling and nutrient management
Manure handling and nutrient management, including the use of anaerobic digesters to capture methane from manure, which is used to generate renewable energy while producing nutrients to fertilize cropland and material for bedding.
On-farm energy efficiency
On-farm energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
Non-milk supply
Two key areas with significant opportunities for improvement are packaging and upstream and downstream transportation and distribution. We are engaging with our suppliers, service providers and customers to develop solutions that support our shared objectives.
Key strategies to reduce non-milk supply emissions
Transportation
Our teams work to optimize modes of transportation to meet customer delivery requirements while reducing costs and environmental impacts. Our management process for over-the-road and rail carriers supports participation in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay program, which enhances our ability to measure fuel efficiency of contract transportation providers.
Packaging
We collaborate with our customers and packaging suppliers to optimize the use of packaging materials. We are assessing our current packaging inventory and investigating materials and packaging innovations with our partners, customers and industry peers.
Water
We strive to use water wisely and ensure the quality of the water we return for beneficial reuse. Limited water availability and water stress in some of the areas where we operate, such as California and New Mexico, provide strong impetus for finding innovative solutions. Furthermore, climate change adds complexity—from changing precipitation patterns to increasing the risks of drought. These interconnections led us to add water to our climate action commitments.
Key strategies to sustainable water use
Across our plants, we have been implementing water-saving methods for years and continue to investigate pioneering ways to improve water capture, recycling, and reuse without sacrificing quality or safety. Leprino Foods also invests significant resources in ensuring effluents, the outflow of treated water released for beneficial reuse, meets stringent permit standards. Our integrated strategies work together to reduce our water footprint.
Water conservation
Each location works to increase water efficiency through projects such as metering enhancements, monitoring and reporting systems to enable faster identification and resolution of issues. Passion-driven employees on Resource Conservation Teams at each location educate their colleagues and promote behaviors and practices that save water.
Water capture, storage and reuse
The water extracted from milk—called COW (condensate of whey) water—is a significant supplemental source of water for plant processes. Maximizing the amount of water captured from milk and other production processes enables us to return more water than we withdraw from municipal and other sources. We continue to investigate and implement innovative approaches to water capture, storage and reuse at our plants.
Getting to zero
A long-term ambition is a plant that achieves near zero water withdrawal by fully reusing all the COW water available. In 2020, after years of effort, we reached a major milestone by receiving approval from the California Department of Food and Agriculture for full reuse of water purified on site.
Our Performance
We report intensity metrics for energy, GHG emissions and water using 1,000 pounds of milk processed to enable us to compare performance across plants of varying sizes and production levels and to assess the organization as a whole. Performance data covers our U.S. plants and excludes our headquarters. Investments in conservation and efficiency projects at all locations and targeted large-scale projects over the years are delivering results that will support our climate action commitments.
Zero Waste
Less than 1% of Leprino Foods waste is sent to the landfill.
Minimizing waste is critical to reducing our environmental footprint. We employ multiple strategies at our facilities to maximize the use and recycling of resources and to minimize waste that is sent to landfills.
Pursuing opportunities across plant operations
We are pursuing multiple strategies across our plants to achieve our scope 1 and 2 emissions and water goals. Projects are further supported by the promotion of resource-smart mindsets and behaviors that empower everyone to contribute.
Recent Stories
2023 Highlights
Leprino Foods’ newest plant in Lubbock, Texas
Our latest, state-of-the-art facility, opening in 2025, will be our most sustainable plant to date. Leprino Foods is investing more than $1 billion in the facility to ensure we get it right.
Energy efficiency and optimization
Continuing on our mission to reduce energy consumption in our operations, energy audits have been completed at each of our production plants. The information gained as a result of these audits provides a foundation for future energy efficiency actions.
USING SOLAR TO REDUCE OUR IMPACT
On-site solar farm installation: In 2021, Leprino began work on a 10-megawatt solar project at one of the facilities in Lemoore, California. The project is now complete and fully operational, contributing approximately 10% of the plant’s annual energy needs.
Composting Food Waste
After test kitchen employees started our compost program this year, approximately 22,950 pounds of pizzas baked for quality assurance and other food scraps were diverted from landfill.
