O.K. Foods received recycling award from Arkansas Recycling Coalition

O.K. Foods Inc., a Bachoco company, has been awarded the Arkansas Recycling Coalition’s 2013 Corporate Recycler of the Year Award.

The award recognized the combined efforts of the management and the employees of O.K. Foods who have worked together to reduce the amount of materials being sent to the Sebastian County Landfill and to find ways of reducing and reusing recycled materials.

Beginning with efforts in 2007 to bail corrugated cardboard, the efforts have expanded to bail film, poly and plastic lined material bags from various processing lines. Paper goods from the feed mill, live production, Heavener, Muldrow, and Fort Chaffee offices are recycled into dedicated compactors.

The company has also found a way to reuse HDPE 55 gallon drums as holding receptacles for plastic and paper throughout the different parts of the company. Previously, these items would have gone to the landfill. The company has eliminated many of the trash cans within the facilities through the recycling program and has reused the plastic drums as recycling receptacles for aluminum cans and plastic drinking bottles in break areas. Metal drums are now transported to a local metal yard for recycling.

“OK’s employees have been a big factor in the success of the recycling program. The plants have display areas showing the types of materials that are being recycled, and those employees who go beyond the scope of their normal work practices are recognized with a gift card,” noted the O.K. statement.