Sustainability

Vegetable Juices, Inc. and Naturex are committed to the health of people and the planet.
The Pathfinder Program aims to provide a rich source of ideas and inspiration for combining economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Vegetable Juices, Inc. is making efforts to reduce carbon emissions directly and indirectly with our facility, packaging, and processes:

Facility - VJI has made many green building improvements

  • Reflective Roof Replacement - reduces temperatures both internally and externally.
  • Office Lighting - utilizes Philips Alto Lamp Technology.
  • Chilled Water/Glycol Free Cooling - takes advantage of colder winter temperatures by chilling the water and glycol through an outdoor condenser.

Process - VJI has revised many processes to reduce energy needs

  • Regenerative Plate Heat Exchangers - more efficient heating and cooling processing.
  • Non-thermal First Stage Concentration - more energy efficient than the “heated” methods that are more common.
  • Second Stage Evaporator - utilizes “hot” juice to “pre-heat” incoming juice and therefore uses less energy.
  • New Vegetable Wash System - recycles water through filtering step, sending an estimated 40% less water to the waste water system.

Packaging - VJI is dedicated to finding greener ways to package

  • Inbound: VJI utilizes reusable super sacks and totes that replace small corrugated boxes and nylon bags.
  • Outbound: VJI offers Bag in Box vs. Pails that delivers:
    • 6% less material
    • 63% less energy
    • 12% less greenhouse gases
    • 6% less post-consumer solid waste

Other

  • By-product Optimization is an important initiative at VJI that helps to reduce landfill deposit of waste by 3.75 million pounds per year.
  • Recycling Programs, both in the plant and office, help recycle packaging, plastic, cardboard, and paper.