Environmental Stewardship
Through innovation, cooperation and responsibility, Pacific Coast Fruit Company is dedicated to fostering responsible resource management. In 2009, our commitment to conscientious environmental and social programs led us to become certified by Food Alliance, a third party audit program that measures a company’s environmental and social practices. We are proud of the actions we have taken to minimize our waste stream and we continue to explore methods of reducing our energy consumption and improving our carbon footprint.
Responsible Waste Management – Our waste management program includes recycling office paper, waxed corrugated cardboard, pallet wood, hard plastic, plastic wrap, and metal. In addition, our Pacific Coast Fruit Cattle Farmer Program supplies local cattle farmers with produce off cuts from our fresh cut produce processing and repack facilities for high quality animal feed and the rest of our organic waste goes into a composting program. Annually we divert more that 450 tons of organic waste that would otherwise go into traditional waste streams. Put in simpler terms that’s 22,500 boxes of apples, enough to fill 21 semi trucks or 459 pallets of apples, which if stacked, would be as high as a 40 story building!
Reduced Energy Consumption – In combination with Cascade Engineering, Perma-Cold, PGE and the Energy Trust of Oregon, Pacific Coast Fruit Company completed the Kaizen Energy Blitz, an energy efficiency program designed to review the equipment, equipment settings and operation practices of refrigerated facilities. For example, we have changed our office and warehouse lighting to compact florescent bulbs (CFL’s) that use half the energy of an incandescent or metal halide fixture. In addition, all areas utilize motion sensors that cycle the lights off after five minutes of inactivity. Operational modifications we have made based on the Kaizen Energy Blitz findings have reduced our annual power consumption by 20%. In other words, our energy savings would power 16,440 incandescent 50 watt light bulbs turned on 24 hours per day for an entire month!
Going Solar- With the aid of REC Solar, Pacific Coast Fruit Company has installed a 9.6 KW photovoltaic solar array on the northwest corner of our roof. The 9.6 KW system is large enough to power three average homes and the clean power generated lessens our reliance on environmentally unfriendly sources of electricity.
Transportation Efficiency- Pacific Coast Fruit Company’s transportation division is continually implementing new technologies and strategies to do more while at the same time reducing our overall fuel consumption. Our entire fleet of over 60 vehicles runs on 95-5 bio-diesel and all vehicles are tracked via a Global Positioning System (GPS) to minimize the total miles and trucks necessary to service our customers on time. The system tracks accurate MPG data which helps determine the best driver and vehicle operating practices and raises the overall MPG for the fleet. In addition, we haul refrigerated food products for other companies which helps reduce the overall number of trucks on the road.
