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8.0 ENVIRONMENT
This section provides additional information about Ben & Jerry’s environmental performance at our three primary production facilities in Waterbury and St. Albans, Vermont; and Hellendoorn, The Netherlands. Combined, Waterbury and St. Albans produce more than 80 percent of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for North America. All Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for the European market is manufactured at the Hellendoorn plant. You can also read a discussion of our climate and sustainable dairy goals and 2009 results against these goals in the Social Mission goals sections of this report.
Energy Use and Emissions U.S. Energy Use and Emissions The energy sources for our Waterbury plant include fuel oil and electricity, purchased from Green Mountain Power. The St. Albans plant utilizes natural gas and electricity purchased from Central Vermont Public Service Company. Both GMP and CVPS buy most of their electricity from nuclear and hydroelectric generating plants, which are low CO2 emitting sources. Ben & Jerry’s manufacturing plants measure all direct energy use (fuel oil and natural gas) and indirect energy use (electricity) and their associated CO2 emissions.
Changes in the energy use and emissions numbers are very dependent upon size and length of production runs. For a variety of reasons, we had significantly shorter production runs, on average, in 2009 compared to the previous years. This largely explains the increase in energy used per unit of ice cream we saw in 2009.
Once again in 2009, we completed several energy-saving initiatives in our two Vermont plants, as shown in the table below.
U.S. Carbon offsets In 2009, for the eighth year in a row, Ben & Jerry’s offset 100 percent of the carbon emissions from our Vermont manufacturing operations. In all, we purchased offsets for 4,679 tons of CO2 in 2009. The carbon offsets associated with our 2009 emissions will again be invested in wind projects located in Greensburg, Kansas, through offset provider NativeEnergy. In 2006, that town was literally wiped out by a F5 tornado; in rebuilding, the community seized the opportunity to turn their town into “the greenest community in the country.” They are investing in everything from alternative fuels and LEED** certified buildings to renewable energy projects.
European Energy Use and CO2 Emissions Unilever’s Hellendoorn production facility in the Netherlands manufactures Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for the European market, though not all of this plant’s production is Ben & Jerry’s. Data presented below represents full performance data for all of the plant’s production. To ensure that Hellendoorn is powered by renewable sources, we purchase our electricity from Essent, a Dutch power generator and broker, which is supplied exclusively with electricity from hydro-electric power plants in Sweden. This renewable energy is third-party certified by CertiQ.
European carbon offsets In 2009, we offset 55,414 tons of CO2 equivalents (covering the life cycle emissions of our 2009 European production) through provider South Pole Carbon Asset Management. The offsets we purchased were Gold Standard offsets from the Mare Manastir and Salayar Wind Farm projects in Turkey.
Solid Waste Management The creation of waste is an inevitable byproduct of any agricultural and/or business operation. For years Ben & Jerry’s has made it our business to not only generate as little waste as we can, but – when possible – to set goals for yearly reductions in the amount of waste produced. What follows is relevant waste data from 2009. U.S. Solid Waste and Recycling –
Non-hazardous waste numbers represent waste sent to the landfill. Recycled waste is plastic and paper material that is recycled as well as reconditioned pallets, dairy waste sent to either an on-farm methane digester or a farm manure pit and any material that is sent to a waste-to-energy incinerator.
European Solid Waste and Recycling –
Since 2007, Hellendoorn’s non-hazardous solid waste has been measured at zero because all wastes were diverted from the landfill, being either recycled, fed to pigs, or incinerated for energy production.
Water Use & Wastewater Discharge U.S. Water Use
In 2009 we completed the installation of a production water reuse system at the Waterbury plant. Currently, a portion of the water collected is treated and colored for use as flush water in the toilets at the plant. We also have the ability to use additional production wastewater for cooling in the roof-top condensers used in our refrigeration system. Nonetheless, our water use per unit of ice cream increased significantly in 2009, due primarily to shorter production runs.
European Water Use & Wastewater Discharge
Green Teams Each of Ben & Jerry’s Company sites has a Green Team, comprised of employees interested in environmental issues. These employee-led teams come up with projects, activities, and events that highlight relevant environmental issues within the Company and beyond. Green Team highlights for 2009 include: 2009 Waterbury Projects
2009 St. Albans Projects
Central Support
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