With our 93-year history as a key business in the Central New York community, Byrne continues to be a proud champion of Earth Day! Will Fleming, Senior Director of Environmental Health and Safety, shares his insight on Byrne’s sustainability efforts.
Our business continues to grow, driving new construction projects and new equipment installations throughout our network. Byrne is currently expanding our Cortlandville operations, effectively doubling the size of our dairy processing plant that produces Extended Shelf Life (ESL) milks.
We are further optimizing our manufacturing operations at the DeWitt facility, adding new processing and filling equipment that will increase plant throughput.
Core to each project is the integration of new high efficiency equipment that will increase production volumes and reduce waste. We are exploring new ways to utilize our waste streams for beneficial purposes. For example, as we are now beginning to produce ultra-filtered milk products, we are adding equipment that will concentrate the waste permeate so it is rich in lactose, and work with farmers that can use the stream as a way to reduce their costs for animal feed.
Over the past two years Byrne has made significant investments to improve energy efficiency in our existing operations. We’ve invested in a complete rebuild of our refrigeration systems at our Ice Cream Center and conducted an energy study across our network to target insulation improvements to reduce steam and power demands. Each of these insulation projects qualified for incentives offered through the NYSERDA program due to the positive metrics on energy savings for natural gas and electricity.
Our investments in wastewater treatment operations continue to improve the pre-treatment of our effluent, while reducing the amount of chemicals used in the process.
We’re pleased with our progress, but we recognize that sustainability requires the mindset of continuous improvement. We have full support from management and employees working together to look for opportunities and drive further improvements.
