Earth Island (manufacturer of Follow Your Heart Products) has been Awarded Gold Level Zero Waste Certification

The Vegetarian Resource Group received the following information from Earth Island. Congratulations!

On behalf of Follow Your Heart, we are very excited to share with you that Earth Island, the manufacturing facility for Follow Your Heart products, has been awarded Gold Level Zero Waste certification from Green Business Certification Incorporated (GBCI), making Earth Island the first plant-based food manufacturing facility in the U.S. to achieve such a title. Earth Island earned the Zero Waste Gold status by diverting 97% of its waste from the landfill as well as fulfilling additional green initiatives over the past 12 months.

In order to achieve Gold Level Zero Waste certification, Earth Island met a strict set of guidelines outlined by GBCI which includes diverting at least 90% of overall waste from landfills and implementing a comprehensive program to reduce and divert waste through strategic purchasing, material reuse, composting, increased recycling, and employee education. Earth Island analyzed every aspect of its operation to classify and quantify all sources of its waste and then identify where waste could either be reduced through increased recycling or composting, or eliminated through reusing materials. Through their efforts, Earth Island diverted nearly 100 tons to recycling, composted 136 tons, and re-purposed 228 tons of materials.