Pilgrim’s US Upgrades Anaerobic Wastewater Treatment Systems to Reduce GHG Emissions

Many of our facilities utilize an anaerobic lagoon as part of their wastewater treatment system. The lagoon removes a significant amount of carbon-based pollutants, but in so doing creates methane gas, a potent greenhouse gas. At all but two facilities, Pilgrim’s US captures the methane and destroys it, nearly eliminating GHG emissions. Since announcing our Net Zero by 2040 commitment in 2021, we have allocated more than $7 million to upgrade those two remaining facilities. Construction of the improvements is currently underway, and we expect them to be completed by the beginning of 2023, eliminating nearly 23,000 tonnes/year of GHG emissions. That is equivalent to removing nearly 5,000 gasoline-powered cars from the road for one year.