West Liberty Foods LLC — a co-packer, private label manufacturer and foodservice supplier of sliced deli meats and fully cooked IQF products — said its Tremonton, Utah, facility successfully achieved “landfill-free” status. This status was independently verified by NSF International Strategic Registrations Ltd. (NSF-ISR), a specialist in management systems registrations and part of Ann Arbor, Mich.-based NSF International, which writes standards and tests that certify products for the food, water, building products and consumer goods industries.

West Liberty Foods, headquartered in West Liberty, Iowa, said it is among the first companies in the United States to have its landfill-free' claim verified by a third-party organization. The NSF-ISR verification process was used to ensure that West Liberty Foods could demonstrate the total waste from its Tremonton facility entering the landfill was less than the industry-acceptable 1 percent. While working to accomplish this status, West Liberty Foods' Tremonton facility successfully diverted nearly 3.5 million pounds of annual waste from the local landfill.

“West Liberty Foods is excited by the positive environmental impact achieved by the combination of our staff and state-of-the-art facilities,” said Gerald Lessard, vice president and chief operating officer for West Liberty Foods. "Our commitment has always been to set the industry standard for food safety, and now we've been able to become a leader in the environmental arena as well."

West Liberty Foods said it developed a two-step approach to achieve its goal. First, the facility completed an internal audit to assess current practices. This audit allowed the facility to increase its recycling initiatives by identifying local vendors to recycle waste for energy. After the audit, the company developed internal processes and conducted extensive employee training.

“West Liberty Foods is one of the first companies to have independently verified its 'landfill-free' claim by an independent third-party organization” said Kirk Hansen, business development manager with NSF International. “Independent verification demonstrates transparency and communicates peace of mind to consumers.”

West Liberty Foods said it is committed to environmental excellence when serving its clients and the communities that it calls home. As a result of the success seen in Tremonton, the company plans to duplicate the landfill-free program in its remaining facilities located in Mount Pleasant and West Liberty, Iowa.