We have procedures in place to collect, transport, and dispose of waste in accordance with regional laws and regulations. Pilgrim’s teams have also set goals in each production facility to decrease the amount of packaging used in finished products, including waste generated and sent to landfill.

The majority of waste generated in our operations is non-hazardous. Materials that can be recycled are separated and sent to recycling companies, and where possible, we partner with composting companies to transform organic waste into compost that can be used as fertilizer in crop fields. Nonrecyclable, hazardous, and harmful waste is separated for appropriate final disposal. To prevent contamination at recycling facilities, packaging materials used at production facilities that come into contact with blood, meat or fat cannot be recycled, per the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) standards. Due to the nature of our products, this reduces our ability to recycle packaging material used at our production facilities.

With an adherence to our strict product safety standards mandated by the ISRI, we continue to look for opportunities to enhance our recycling practices — including exploring alternative materials with greater recyclability and technologies that help reduce packaging.

Pilgrim’s Europe Chicken, Pilgrim’s Europe Pork, and Pilgrim’s Europe Prepared Foods have achieved and maintained zero waste to landfill across facilities. With a strategy of “Remove, Reduce, Recycle, and Research,” they began using 100% recyclable rigid packaging in 2022. All other packaging will be widely recyclable by 2025. Pilgrim’s Europe Chicken was the first poultry company to commit to reducing packaging and food waste in its value chain. The company plans to lower its global use of packaging by 5% each year, while raising the percentage of recyclable packages by 5%.

In 2023, Pilgrim's Mexico swapped its traditionally used Styrofoam trays for PET — which is one of the most recyclable materials that can be recycled indefinitely without losing quality – across its Just Bare product line.

Safety requirements for receiving, unloading, and disposing of bulk hazardous liquids are outlined in Pilgrim’s Bulk Chemical Delivery Protocol. Team members and contractors are expected to follow these procedures in compliance with the appropriate occupational health and safety and environmental regulations for their region.

Across the Company and our operations, we are exploring strategic circular-economy concepts that will enable us to reduce, reuse, recover and recycle materials and energy within closed loop systems.

To ensure we are efficiently preventing food waste, we process byproducts to create saleable materials. In 2022, we committed to the USDA and EPA’s goal to reduce food loss and waste by 50% by 2030, and we remain committed to reaching that goal in our own operations.

Rendering — the process of repurposing byproducts that would otherwise go to waste — is an important but often overlooked component of food sustainability. According to the North American Renderers Association (NARA), the meat, bone, hide, and other scrap materials that many consumers consider inedible are reclaimed and recycled into more than 8.6 million metric tons of fat, oil, and protein each year via rendering. Responsibly diverting these materials from landfill and other disposal methods helps reduce food waste, decrease GHG emissions, and return clean water to natural waterways. In addition, many materials are responsibly repurposed into valuable new products such as sustainable fuels.

* Has the potential for post-consumer recyclability.

** Produced from recycled materials.

*** Includes paper, cardboard, pulp, and wood.

**** Includes plastic, metal, Styrofoam, and glass.