WhiteWave Foods, a leading consumer packaged food and beverage company that makes Silk, Horizon, International Delight and Earthbound Farm products, has announced green building certification of its beverage manufacturing facility in Dallas, Texas.
The facility, which produces Silk soymilk, almondmilk and coconutmilk, Horizon Organic milk and International Delight flavored coffee creamers, earned U.S. Green Building Council, LEED certification for New Construction. The 325,000 sq.-ft.-facility was built in 2012 and employs nearly 300 people.
"WhiteWave is committed to changing the way the world eats for the better, and we recognize that how we make our products is just as important as what we make," said Blaine McPeak, President of WhiteWave Foods.
"Improving the environmental profile of our manufacturing process helps us to offer consumers more sustainable food choices, and reinforces our commitment to reduce our environmental impact."
The LEED green building certification system is the foremost program for the design, construction and operation of green buildings. Green attributes of the WhiteWave facility include:
Nearly 90 percent of all demolition and construction waste associated with the project was diverted from landfills.
Landscaping that requires no irrigation
Fixtures that use 30 percent less water
100 percent of wood-based building materials certified sustainable by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
Nearly half of all building materials manufactured within 500 miles of the site
Use of materials and design techniques that facilitate solar reflectivity, helping to address "heat island" challenges associated with Dallas' urban development. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the annual mean air temperature of a city with 1 million people or more can be 1.8-5.4°F warmer than its surroundings, increasing summertime peak energy demand, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and heat-related illness.
"With each new LEED-certified building, we get one step closer to USGBC's vision of a sustainably built environment within a generation," said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. "As the newest member of the LEED family of green buildings, WhiteWave's beverage facility is an important addition to the growing strength of the green building movement."
The WhiteWave plant was designed by Hixson, a leading architecture, engineering and interior design firm based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
According to Bill Sander, Hixson Senior Vice President and Project Manager, much of the credit for achieving LEED certification is due to the seamless working relationships between Hixson and WhiteWave, who had a passion to develop a sustainable facility.
"We implemented a Master Plan and complied with a schedule based on WhiteWave's aggressive requirement for production of saleable product by a time-sensitive date," said Sander. "This required close collaboration and the use of the collective knowledge of the entire team, including the General Contractor, to identify the long lead equipment issues, to overcome the difficulty associated with staged construction permitting, and to keep a keen awareness of the LEED certification objective."
The LEED certification of WhiteWave's Dallas plant follows LEED certification of the company's North American operating company headquarters in Broomfield, Colo. In addition to green building, WhiteWave Foods' sustainability initiatives include improving the environmental and social impacts of its business, improving responsible material sourcing, increasing packaging sustainability, and reducing waste-to-landfill, water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
On a per gallon basis, WhiteWave has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 32 percent since 2006, waste to landfill by 28 percent since 2007, and non-ingredient water use by 6 percent since 2008.
