The U.S. Poultry & Egg Association is announcing the recipients of the 2024 Clean Water Award: Keystone Foods in Albany, Ky., and John Soules Foods in Valley, Ala. This annual award honors poultry facilities that demonstrate exceptional performance in wastewater treatment, water reuse and overall sustainability. Winners were selected by a committee of industry engineers and university experts and honored at USPOULTRY’s annual Environmental Management Seminar.

Awards are presented in two categories: full treatment and pretreatment. The full treatment category includes facilities that treat wastewater according to a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, allowing treated effluent to be discharged into a receiving stream. The pretreatment category covers facilities that partially treat their wastewater before discharging the effluent to a publicly owned treatment facility for further processing. To qualify for the award, facilities must have at least two years of no significant noncompliance, Notices of Violation or any other type of enforcement action.

John Soules Foods was named the winner in the pretreatment category for its Valley, Ala., facility. This fully cooked poultry production plant currently treats approximately 420,000 gallons of wastewater daily, with a future capacity of around 1 million gallons per day. The facility utilizes a rotary screen, a screw press and a patented advanced pretreatment system that automatically controls the operation of the equipment and dosing of chemicals to meet effluent requirements. The efficiency of the patented technology used at the wastewater treatment plant allowed John Soules Foods to delay the installation of biological treatment equipment that was first thought to be necessary to meet effluent discharge limits. Additionally, the plant fully contained and covered the area used to recycle packaging and poultry byproducts.

The winner in the pretreatment category is John Soules Foods in Valley, Ala. Pictured from left to right are: Shane Reid, vice president, Reid Engineering Co.; Paul Bredwell, executive vice president of regulatory programs, USPOULTRY; Eric McClanahan, environmental/wastewater supervisor, John Soules Foods; Cohan Sharp, plant manager, John Soules Foods; Robert Fleming, safety manager, John Soules Foods; and Dr. Brian Kiepper, associate professor, University of Georgia. Courtesy of the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association 

Keystone Foods was chosen as the winner in the full treatment category for its broiler processing facility in Albany, Ky. The facility, which processes 250,000 birds per day, treats an average of 1.4 million gallons of wastewater daily. Rather than discharging the treated wastewater to a receiving stream, it is applied to agricultural land to produce forage that is made available to local farmers who raise cattle. The facility reuses approximately 100,000 gallons of treated wastewater each week, significantly reducing its potable water demand. In 2021, the facility received a UL Certification for achieving the status of a Zero Waste to Landfill Gold Operation. In addition to its significant community engagement that includes providing food to local families, offering senior citizens plant tours and sponsoring a first responders breakfast, the facility developed 40 acres of buffer zone areas around streams to act as a filter for nutrient runoff, while providing a habitat for deer, wild turkeys and other wildlife.

The winner in the full treatment category is Keystone Foods in Albany, Ky.  Pictured from left to right are: Shane Reid, Paul Bredwell, Jason York, complex environmental manager, Keystone Foods, and Dr. Brian Kiepper. Courtesy of the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association

An honorable mention with distinction award in the full treatment category was also presented to Pilgrim’s in Russellville, Ala.

“The nominees for this year’s Clean Water Awards reflect the industry’s unwavering commitment to environmental stewardship and responsible resource management,” said Mikell Fries, Claxton Poultry, and USPOULTRY chair. “These awards recognize the progress made towards operational efficiency while maintaining strong community involvement. Congratulations to this year’s winners for their outstanding achievements.”

Source: U.S. Poultry & Egg Association