Page 313 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

Food and Beverage Industries 289

• ConAgra Foods introduced a new shrink film that contains
more than 50% post-industrial recycled polylactic acid (PLA),
a renewable material that is manufactured from corn. This
“in dustrial ecology” innovation avoids the purchase of petro-
leum-based raw materials and diverts PLA wastes from land-
fill. The film will be used for tamper evident seals on ConAgra
Foods’ table spreads—Fleischmann’s , Blue Bonnet and
®
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Parkay —and for printed shrink labels for multi-packs of
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Reddi-Wip topping and PAM cooking spray. It requires less
®
®
energy at ConAgra Foods’ manufacturing facilities, reducing
the temperature necessary to shrink the material by approxi-
mately 20 percent. In addition, it provides a higher-quality
finished product due to improved shrink performance. The
new material will reduce annual greenhouse gas production
by approximately 592,000 pounds of carbon dioxide equiva-
lents, the same as taking about 48 cars off the road per year.
General Mills: Nourishing the Future

General Mills is the world’s sixth largest food company, with 28,500
employees worldwide and over $13 billion in sales, about $9 bil-
lion of which is in the United States. In addition to its popular
cereal brands, such as Cheerios, General Mills brands include Betty
Crocker, Pillsbury, Yoplait, and Haagen-Dazs ice cream. General Mills
has built its entire sustainability program around the theme of
nourishment [3]:

• Nourishing lives by providing great food products that meet
or exceed expectations for safety, quality, convenience, value
and, of course, great taste.
• Nourishing communities by volunteering, donating money
and food, supporting minority-owned businesses, and creat-
ing healthy and safe workplaces for employees.
• Nourishing the future by establishing sustainable business
and manufacturing practices that minimize the company’s
environmental footprint.
Environmental responsibility has long been an important part
of General Mills corporate values and actions. For example, General
Mills was able to significantly reduce the environmental impacts of
its Green Giant sweet corn products through integrated pest manage-
ment. Between 1980 and 2005, the company reduced pesticide appli-
cation volume by 80% and insect control costs by 37%.
Building on its historic commitment to environmental excellence,
General Mills established a formal sustainability program in 2003.
Later, in 2007, the company appointed Gene Kahn as the new vice