Simmons Foods, Inc. of Southwest City, Montana, and Keystone Foods of Reidsville, North Carolina, have been presented with this year's award.

The presentations were made during USPOULTRY’s Environmental Management Seminar in Destin, Florida, and the winners were selected by a committee of industry engineers and managers and university personnel.

Awards are presented in two categories, full treatment and pretreatment. The full treatment category covers facilities that fully reclaim wastewater prior to discharge into a receiving stream or final land application system. The pretreatment category includes facilities that discharge pretreated effluent to publicly-owned, full treatment facilities.

To be eligible, a facility must have a minimum of two years of no significant non-compliances or notices of violations or any other type of enforcement action.

Simmons Foods, Inc. was selected as the winner in the full treatment category for their further processing operation. The Southwest City Complex processes and treats an average wastewater flow of 2.28 million gallons per day.

The facility currently converts Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) skimmings into a valuable ingredient that is used in the production of high fat, high protein, high value cattle feed. This process allows over 130 million pounds of material to be recycled into the food chain each year rather than being land-applied.

The Southwest City Complex’s rendering facility also utilises roughly 5000 boiler horse power of thermal oxidising technology to reduce odour emissions. The thermal oxidisers are a European technology, with Simmons Foods being the first to use this technology at a rending plant in the US.

USPOULTRY said that one highlight of Simmons' operation is the facility’s water reuse programme. The Southwest City Complex recycles between 300,000 to 350,000 gallons per day, or 18 per cent of the total flow, of treated effluent for use at the complex.

The recycled water has greatly reduced the volume Simmons Foods pumps from the Gasconade aquifer. The facility has been recycling their treated effluent since 1996, with the total volume of recycled water equaling approximately 2 billion gallons.

Keystone Foods was selected as the winner in the pretreatment category. The Reidsville facility processes and treats an average wastewater flow of 185,000 thousand gallons per day.

Biosolids generated in the DAF unit are used by a local composting company to produce a high value soil conditioner. DAF biosolids have not been landfilled since 1999. The facility has achieved landfill reduction through compactors with monitoring systems, recycling, using a Planet Aid bin and composting wax boxes. Since 2008, the facility has reduced the amount of waste sent to the landfill by more than 55 per cent, with the goal be landfill free by 2020.

USPOULTRY names one focal point of the facility’s operation as the water reuse programme. The facility is currently implementing two Six Sigma water projects involving the use of valves to restrict water and the installation of timers to shut down the process when the lines are shut down.

The facility also tracks its total water usage and has completed an analysis for water availability and scarcity risk.

“The poultry industry has been a well-known leader in conserving natural resources,” said USPOULTRY chairman Sherman Miller.

“USPOULTRY continues to emphasise the value of environmental stewardship by recognising excellence in environmental programs at our member companies, while also offering technical assistance and training in environmental management to our members. Congratulations to these four companies for their excellent example.”