Hiland Dairy Honored For Closed-Loop Sustainability Initiative At Oklahoma Plant

The stand-out sustainability program received recognition at ProFoods Live 2018.

Springfield, MO /PRNewswire/ - Sustainability has always a priority at Hiland Dairy Foods Company, which continuously seeks new ways to recycle, reduce and reuse at its production plants. Hiland Dairy's most extensive effort to date took years to reach its current magnitude as a closed-loop sustainability initiative at the company's plant in Chandler, Oklahoma. At last month's ProFood Live conference in Chicago, Hiland's initiative received a ProFood World 2017 Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Award.

Hiland Dairy received the second-place award in the Project Category for the Chandler plant's whey recycling and wastewater treatment facility, which has expanded over the years to include additional projects.

Whey wastewater, a byproduct of cottage cheese production, must undergo treatment, which was expensive for Hiland Dairy and taxing on the City of Chandler's municipal treatment facilities.

"We started looking at building our own wastewater treatment facility in Chandler," said David Smith, operations manager at Hiland Dairy. "We purchased 620 acres of land near the plant for a whey recycling and wastewater treatment facility. We have lagoons that use aerobic bacteria to treat about 250,000 gallons of wastewater a day. Then we have the aeration and holding ponds, which, together, hold 28 million gallons."

To recycle the whey, Hiland separates it from the water. The water goes to the treatment facility, and the whey is filtered into a silo and held until the Chandler team applies it as fertilizer through irrigation pivots.

The treatment facility sits on 280 acres, and Hiland uses the surplus acreage to grow high-yield feed crops, irrigated with the treated wastewater and fertilized with the recycled whey. These crops provide area farmers with an affordable, local feed source.

The Chandler plant also produces Hiland's Red Diamond Tea, which inspired its most recent project under this sustainability initiative.

"We're very conscious of the amount of landfill waste that results from manufacturing," Smith said. "To reduce our landfill waste, we looked at ways we could recycle the used tea bags. We had them tested and found out they're rich in nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium."

With that revelation, a solution emerged: The Chandler team could use the tea bags to fertilize the overworked, now-barren 340 acres outside the irrigation system's reach.

"We purchased the machinery to grind up and spread the tea bags," Smith said, "and we started by spreading crushed tea bags across 60 acres," Smith said. "Then we performed regular soil sampling and testing, which showed definite improvement in the soil quality. That allowed us to plant high-quality, high-yield forage crops that are easy for livestock to digest and provide area farmers with an affordable feed source."

The results of the closed-loop sustainability initiative show the tangible significance of Hiland's Chandler initiative. The plant reduced its amount of wastewater by 95 percent. Landfill waste was reduced by 194 tons a month. During growing season, the plant produces 1.75 tons of feed a day. And those are only a few of many notable results.

"At Hiland Dairy, we've made investments to take the three biggest wastes out of the plant and put them to work revitalizing the land," Smith said. "To be a part of such an enormous effort and see it not only succeed on a local level but also earn national recognition is incredible. It makes me proud to work for a company that's dedicated to innovation like Hiland is."

About ProFood World
ProFood World is dedicated to meeting the expanding information needs of manufacturing, engineering, operation and supply chain/logistics executives in the global food and beverage manufacturing industry. ProFood World's Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards honor exceptional sustainability achievements within food, beverage and consumer products manufacturing operations. These annual peer-reviewed awards recognize manufacturing plants for their efforts in driving improved performance through sustainability and honoring companies and individuals that seek to go beyond environmental compliance.

About Hiland Dairy Foods Company
For 80 years, Hiland Dairy Foods has proudly supported the communities we live in and the businesses whose customers rely on our wholesome products every day. Hiland is owned by local dairy farmers who provide the fresh, delicious milk for our products, and we have farmer-owners within miles of each of our plants.

As a full-service dairy, Hiland provides a wide array of products, including milk, buttermilk, eggnog, ice cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream and dips, half and half, whipping cream, butter, and cheese. We also produce and distribute fresh juices, lemonade, fruit punch, Red Diamond Tea, YoPhoria Smoothies, a full line of iced coffee, lactose-free milk, organic milk, almond milk and soy milk.

Part of caring about our communities is caring about our ecological footprint — preserving water, land and natural resources for our future generations — so we reduce waste, reuse resources and recycle what we can at every opportunity. For more information about Hiland Dairy and its products, please visit our media center. To learn more about Hiland's sustainability efforts, please visit HilandDairy.com/Sustainability/local-initiatives.