McKee Foods Gentry was named the winner of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality’s (ADEQ) 2012 Environmental Stewardship Award for the company’s extensive efforts to divert all of its waste from landfills. 

Teresa Marks, director of ADEQ, announced the winner Wednesday, April 25, at the monthly meeting of the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission at ADEQ’s headquarters in North Little Rock. McKee Foods was one of five finalists for the 2012 Arkansas Environmental Stewardship Award. The other finalists were:

  • ConAgra Foods
  • Dassault Falcon Jet
  • Pratt and Whitney’s
  • The Pulaski County Regional Solid Waste Management District

In 2007, the Gentry Plant began an aggressive effort to reduce its landfill waste by 70 percent in three years. After exceeding that original goal, the Gentry Green Team went further. Now all solid waste produced at the facility are recycled, reused or converted into energy. When the waste reduction effort began in 2007, the facility was disposing of nearly 1,000 tons of solid waste each year into landfills. 

“McKee [Foods] has worked hard to protect the environment,” said Marks. “By cutting the trash it sends to landfills from 1,000 tons a year to zero, it has surpassed a goal that some might have seen as impossible. The company sets a shining example, not only in its own industry, but for us all.” 

Dubbed the “ENVY Award,” the annual presentation was established in 2005 by the ADEQ to recognize a major contribution by an individual or organization for efforts to enhance and protect Arkansas’ natural resources. 

Marks said it was difficult to choose a winner from such an impressive field. “Each and every one of these companies should be applauded for their efforts to make Arkansas a better place.” 

Gentry management is proud of their people for earning this award. “It’s another great example of how God continues to bless us with great people and their individual effort to demonstrate our Guiding Values and choose to make a difference in our success,” said Tim Broughton, vice president, Gentry operations.

Story courtesy of McKee Corporate Communications

Top