Bimbo Bakeries USA in Horsham, Pennsylvania, has been named a 2018 Energy Star Partner of the Year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in recognition of its companywide commitment to energy management strategy and leadership in the baking industry.
“Bimbo Bakeries USA has always strived to be a leader in sustainability and minimize our carbon footprint,” said Fred Penny, president. “We are proud that those efforts have been recognized by the EPA, and we are honored to be named an Energy Star Partner of the Year.
“We seek to actively exceed expectations of environmentally conscious audiences,” said Ramon Rivera, SVP of operations at Bimbo Bakeries USA. “We have implemented programs across the country to improve water, power and energy savings, reduce air emissions and manage waste using an environmentally responsible system.”
Several key accomplishments for the baker in 2017 include:
- Achieving an energy intensity improvement of 1.5 percent vs. 2016 and contributing to a 3 percent improvement since 2015, all while saving enough energy equivalent to produce more than 40 million loaves of bread.
- Earning Energy Star certification at 14 of the company’s bakeries.
- Achieving the goals of the Energy Star Challenge for Industry recognition at 11 bakeries since 2013—the most in the commercial baking sector.
- Investing more than $7 million in energy efficiency projects in its bakeries, depots and retail centers.
- Pioneering the use of bio-digestion systems to produce biogas that has generated more than $750,000 in energy savings.
“The 2018 Energy Star Partners of the Year have demonstrated real leadership, showing how American families and businesses can save energy, save money and reduce air emissions,” said Bill Wehrum, EPA assistant administrator for Air and Radiation.
In 2016 alone, Energy Star certified products, homes, buildings and plants helped Americans save more than $30 billion in energy costs and approximately 400 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity all while achieving broad emissions reductions.
Bimbo Bakeries USA’s accomplishments will be recognized at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on April 20.
Bimbo Bakeries USA operates more than 50 manufacturing locations in the U.S., and 11,000-plus distribution routes deliver brands such as Arnold, Artesano, Ball Park, Bimbo, Boboli, Brownberry, Entenmann’s, eureka!, Little Bites, Marinela, Oroweat, Sara Lee, Stroehmann and Thomas’. BBU is owned by Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo, which has operations in 32 countries.
