AMI Announces Winners of MAPS Environmental Awards

CHICAGO, Ill., ─ The American Meat Institute today honored 140 plants for achievements in environmental management through AMI’s two Environmental MAPS award programs. The awards ceremony was held during AMI’s International Meat, Poultry & Seafood Convention & Exposition, October 24-27, 2007, in Chicago, Ill..

MAPS is a voluntary, environmental roadmap – in the form of two separate awards programs – that recognizes quantifiable environmental results of AMI members and is comprised of a “4-Tier EMS Implementation Program” and the competitive “Environmental Achievement Awards.”

The 4-Tier EMS Implementation Program recognizes plants and companies as they develop and implement an environmental management system (EMS):

• Tier 1: Facilities begin work on an EMS and implement a basic package of environmental criteria.
• Tier 2: Facilities integrate more comprehensive requirements into their EMS.
• Tier 3: Facilities complete and fully implement an EMS that is equivalent to US EPA criteria.
• Tier 4: Facilities culminate their environmental management activities by completing an audit cycle and receiving ISO 14001 certification from the International Standards Organization or other equivalent certifying organization.

This year, 129 plants from 10 companies achieved one or more of the four EMS tiers.

“Adoption of Environmental Management Systems by AMI members is helping the meat and poultry industry achieve improvements in natural resource protection and reducing our environmental footprints,” said AMI President and CEO J. Patrick Boyle.

“The real payoff occurs,” added Boyle, “when facilities report the improved environmental achievements that come from implementing their EMS. The best of these efforts annually receive AMI’s Environmental Achievement Awards.”

This Environmental Achievement Awards is a competitive awards program, and this year 11 facilities received awards from AMI for their successes in one of the following categories: resource conservation; pollution prevention; environmental sustainability; environmental training programs; outreach to the public.

Boyle noted that in an industry-wide effort to address environmental impact, the issue has been declared “non-competitive” among AMI members, meaning companies openly share information as it relates to environmental issues and solutions to the problems presented.

“These awards programs provide the guidance and acknowledgement intended to enhance our environmental stewardship,” Boyle said.

A list of honorees may be found at http://www.meatami.com.

AMI represents the interests of packers and processors of beef, pork, lamb, veal and turkey products and their suppliers throughout North America. Together, AMI’s members produce 95 percent of the beef, pork, lamb and veal products and 70 percent of the turkey products in the United States. The Institute provides legislative, regulatory, public relations, technical, scientific and educational services to the meat and poultry packing and processing industry.