Kraft Foods has announced completion of two waste-to-energy projects at the company's manufacturing facilities in Lowville Campbell, New York. Both plants produce cheese.

The new energy-generation facilities are part of a company-wide push for sustainability in six areas: agriculture, packaging, energy, water, waste, and transportation. Kraft's commitment to sustainability is not new, but the company's concentrated efforts in these areas represent a change in Kraft's approach to the environment.

The Lowville and Campbell plants have been converted to use bio-methane produced in on-site waste treatment systems — they're both anaerobic digester systems. The bio-methane will replace approximately 30 percent of the natural gas each plant needs to purchase annually.

The waste used in the process is whey, a byproduct of cheese production. Cheese makers traditionally struggle with finding a way to dispose of whey, often selling it to farms for fertilizer. Not only will Kraft's changeover reduce the amount of natural gas the company uses, it will also reduce the CO2 emissions associated with transporting whey offsite for disposal.

The Lowville digester, located at the plant where Philadelphia cream cheese is made, generates enough biogas to heat around 1,000 homes. The Campbell system, where Polly-O Italian-style cheeses and Kraft and Polly-O string cheese are produced, can heat more than 1,600. Both systems were designed and built for Kraft by Ecovation (now part of Ecolab). Ecolab will continue to operate the two systems for Kraft.

"This is a time of opportunity for us," said Steve Yucknut, Kraft's Vice President of Sustainability. "Our customers want to do business with partners who support sustainability. Consumers want to buy products from companies that 'get it' and employees want to work for companies that respect and preserve the world around them. So, we've increased our focus on sustainability because it's the right thing to do and it makes good business sense."

Alternative energy sources, such as the new bio-methane installations, have helped Kraft to make progress on its company-wide goals to reduce energy usage by 25 percent, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent and manufacturing plant waste by 15 percent. Kraft is focusing on accomplishing those goals by making improvements to every part of its food chain, from the company's agricultural sources of milk and other raw materials, to its transportation and sales methods.  According to Yucknut, "Kraft's sustainability impact goes across the full supply chain — from farm to fork."

Image — Kraft