WhiteWave Foods Company: Making Ecoconscious Food Products and Choices for the Enviornment

Conventional milk contains an average of 2.5 pesticides, according to a USDA study from 2005.  And, conventional milk often comes from cows that have been injected with the recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone.  This genetically engineered hormone causes the cow to produce more milk, but has been reported to cause health problems for the cows and for humans who drink the milk. 

That’s why it’s a good thing that the Colorado-based company WhiteWave Foods — makers of Silk soymilk and Horizon Organic milk — ensures that all of the ingredients put into their soy and dairy products are ingredients that support organic standards.  The food company prohibits the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers and genetically-modified (GM) products.  The products and ingredients are also purchased domestically from American farms. This is all the more important knowing that Silk makes up nearly 80 percent of the soymilk sold in North America.    

“I think WhiteWave has long been focused on minding our environmental footprint,” says Sara Loveday, spokesperson for WhiteWave Foods. 

In addition to minding how food is produced and where it comes from, WhiteWave Foods is committed to sustainability, from reducing waste to supporting renewable energy.  By choosing a bottle cap supplier closer to the WhiteWave Foods’ plant, the company is cutting back on 157,652 transportation miles, or saving about 31,530 gallons of fuel each year. 

WhiteWave Foods also participates in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leaders program to conduct on-site energy audits and develop long-term climate change strategies.  The company currently has a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2013, Loveday says.   

In the meantime, WhiteWave Foods purchases renewable energy credits, and has already purchased 375,499 megawatt-hours of wind energy, equivalent to 276,044 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. 

In office, WhiteWave Foods not only in talks with EcogreenOffice regarding a partnership and using eco-friendly office supplies, but the food company also participates in a Zero Waste Recycling and Composting program.  WhiteWave Foods diverted nearly 115,000 pounds from the landfill in 2010.  The company hopes to divert 30 percent of their waste from the landfill by 2013, Loveday says.

Visit the WhiteWave Foods website for more ideas on how to make your company more environmentally responsible. 

The company also makes International Delight non-dairy coffee creamer and Land O’Lakes half & half.  

  Manufactured by EcoGreenOffice partner WhiteWave Foods, 90 percent of Horizon Organic milk comes from more than 600 certified organic family farmers from 22 states across the country.