For over 76 years, Pennsylvania-based Herr Foods, Inc., one of the nation’s largest privately held snack manufacturers, has recognized the importance of being good stewards of the environment’s natural resources. Environmental responsibility has inherently been part of the company’s operations and is at the forefront of decisions throughout the entire Herr’s organization.
“In 1946, when my father created and expanded Herr’s, sustainable practices were just something that made good business sense,” said Chairman and CEO Ed Herr. “As we look to celebrate Sustainability Day later this month, the Herr family’s passion for quality leads our company to seek new and better ways to serve our customers and, at the same time, protect the environment through manufacturing, waste recycling, packaging, and delivery optimizations.”
Manufacturing
Herr’s has designed its manufacturing systems to be environmentally friendly, energy-efficient, and produce minimal waste. The company’s steam recovery system saves energy by capturing steam created in the plant to then heat the building. Additionally, Herr’s starch recovery system collects excess potato starch, which is then sold to fine paper manufacturers.
Waste recycling
Most of the by-products from Herr’s snack food products are used at the nearby 1,500-acre Herr’s Angus Farm. The water discharge from the processing of Herr’s potatoes is used for spray irrigation, the slurry is used for fertilizer, and the potato skins are used for fodder. Any product that does not meet Herr’s quality standards is used as cattle feed, fondly coined by Herr’s farmers as “steer party mix.” Herr's makes the steer party mix from products that weren't quite up to snuff—chips that were too small or oily, half-popped popcorn, or pretzels that turned a shade too dark in the oven. Decades ago, Herr's paid to have these imperfect snacks hauled away. With the addition of the farm, the Herr’s Farm management was able to work these into a balanced diet for the steer.
Packaging
Herr’s delivers products to stores in corrugated containers. Once unpacked at the store, these containers are then brought back to the warehouse to be reused again and again, rather than being discarded. When they can no longer be packed, they are collected, baled, and sold to recyclers to be made into more corrugated or paper products.
Delivery
Fifty percent of Herr’s snacks are distributed within 100 miles of the manufacturing plant, which provides a more direct and environmentally friendly delivery operation.
Herr’s is focused on being an authentic symbol of goodness, through its products and environmentally friendly actions. For more information about Herr’s environmentally friendly actions, click here.
