Oct 3, 2007 10:04 AM

Smithfield Foods Inc and two Smithfield Packing Co operating companies have earned honors from the state of Virginia’s 12th annual Governor’s Environmental Excellence Awards (GEEA) for Business and Industry for environmental stewardship achievements during the past year.

All based in Smithfield VA, corporate headquarters in received a gold award; Smithfield Transportation, a silver award; and Smithfield Packing South, a bronze award.

Specific projects and programs recognized were:

•Smithfield Transportation—When renewing its lease for fleet vehicles, the company decided to switch to new vehicles with state-of-the-art technologies that significantly reduce fuel consumption and emissions. In 2006 the new vehicles increased fuel efficiency by 20% and reduced diesel fuel consumption by 300,000 gallons.

•Smithfield Foods—The company’s ISO 14001-certified Environmental Management System (EMS) has completed its first three-year cycle of environmental projects. During that time, the company has recycled 118,490,000 pounds of cardboard, saved 250,000,000 gallons of water, eliminated 716,000 pounds of air pollutants, and burned 1,900,000 decatherms of biogas converted from treated wastewater.

•Smithfield Packing South—This plant has implemented revisions to the rendering operation, changes in the production lines, and elimination of the hog processing operation. The company also replaced two boilers and upgraded two more to help reduce its environmental footprint in air emissions and conserve natural resources.