Turkey Hill Dairy Runs on 100 Percent Renewable Energy

EESI was fortunate to have Turkey Hill Dairy give out free ice cream samples at our Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Expo and Policy Forum last week. One of America’s top ice cream brands, Turkey Hill firmly believes that its corporate responsibility includes environmental stewardship.

Through various green initiatives, Turkey Hill has worked to cut down on waste, reduce packaging, and minimize outputs into the environment. From having reengineered its ice cream cartons and lids alone, Turkey Hills keeps about 210,000 pounds of plastic and 200,000 pounds of paperboard out of landfills each year. Turkey Hill has also worked hard to ensure more economic fuel usage through fleet improvements, backhauling, and local sourcing to minimize distances traveled.

Turkey Hill’s facility in Conestoga, PA (courtesy Turkey Hill)

Turkey Hill’s facility in Conestoga, PA, exemplifies its green initiatives. As of 2019, the facility is run on 100 percent renewable energy, consisting of 20 percent wind energy from local wind turbines and 80 percent hydropower from nearby hydroelectric dams. Turkey Hill’s wind turbines are the first commercial wind turbine project in South Central Pennsylvania and reduce the dairy’s greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 5,900 tons annually, the equivalent of removing 1,000 cars from the road. Should the dams and wind turbines not produce enough energy, Turkey Hill can purchase energy credits to make up the difference. A zero-landfill waste facility since 2015, Turkey Hill also has a landfill-gas-to-energy plant which takes the dairy’s waste gases and converts them to electricity and steam used in the production and cleaning processes. The plant saves 150,000 gallons of diesel fuel annually.

The Turkey Hill Clean Water Partnership (formed in partnership with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and the Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association) has secured $1.5 million to help dairy producers make positive changes for clean water, and is currently working with dairy farmers to create updated conservation plans. Once the plans are implemented, the producers will receive a premium from Turkey Hill for all the milk they supply to the dairy.

Turkey Hill believes that the right renewable energy projects can be cost-efficient for companies and looks to work with energy companies and other groups to come up with cost-competitive, sustainable solutions.

Author: Chloe Rogers