Collecting environmental returns on plastic totes

We are committed to minimizing our impact on the environment, and therefore, very much cognizant of the adverse effects of using plastic. With this in mind, we apply the waste management hierarchy principles in the disposal of containers. While ‘prevention’ and ‘reduction’ stand at the top and are implemented where relevant, ‘reuse’ and ‘recycle’ are more pertinent to the situation in North America. This is why the team introduced the ‘Returnable Totes Program’.

Shellie Hamilton, the Environment, Health and Safety (ESH) Manager in Canada, explains how the program works: “We make sure to track the high volume of totes leaving our site and ask our customers to return them once they are emptied.”

Once returned, the facilities have a clean-in-place system (CIP) to thoroughly wash the totes. The residue is filtered and accumulated in an underground interceptor and is then collected to be sent to centers that turn the ‘food waste’ into electricity and fertilizer. The process ensures that both the tote and food waste are reused. The program has helped the sites avoid using over 1300 metric tons of single-use plastic every year.

“We take great pains to ensure the efficient use of water when cleaning the totes. However, safety and quality take precedence for our markets. These totes will be reused to store food-grade products, and we would never compromise on food safety,” she asserts.

We have a stringent framework of policies and measures, including third-party on-site assessment, to ensure we maintain the highest safety standards. All our food sites in North America have the highest rating by the renowned Safe Quality Food (SQF) program, recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).

However, there are instances when we cannot execute the returnable totes program. Daniel Hoeft, ESH Manager, USA, explains that incidentally, returnable totes are reused by the customers themselves; a lack of knowledge of the tote’s prior contents and treatment means we cannot guarantee meeting the product safety and quality standards during reuse. We do not let this deter us.

“We channel these used containers to a third party where they are cleaned and sold to companies that need to store non-food grade items,” he explains, “repurposing is the next best alternative when we cannot reuse the materials in our food and nutrition ingredients blending facility.”

Besides deploying returnable packaging, our facilities also recycle the packaging materials that have reached the end of their life cycle. Drums, totes, steel drums, cardboards, and pallets are dismantled into separate parts for recycling into dedicated product streams. “Anything to reduce the amount of waste we produce,” chips in Shellie. This way, every part used in packaging is reused or repurposed in some way or the other, limiting the waste generated.

In alignment with our sustainability roadmap, the ESH team is anticipating implementing other waste disposal strategies. Among them is tackling unrecyclable waste through fuel blending – creating fossil fuel alternatives through the incineration of waste, while partnering with waste management and treatment facilities for flammable and/or acidic waste. Shellie and Daniel emphasize the importance of cutting down waste, especially plastic waste, from entering the environment.