Our Focus on Environmental Responsibility

Water Conservation
Since water is vital to growing and processing tomatoes and other crops, we believe it is important to conserve this resource carefully for future generations and to help guarantee that Heinz has the water it needs to operate well into the future.

Our work in sustainable agriculture includes collaborating with suppliers around the world to implement water conservation initiatives, particularly drip irrigation methods that are substantially reducing crop-production water usage in North America, Europe, and Australia. Drip irrigation delivers a steady supply of moisture close to the ground to nourish plants, resulting in slower evaporation and lower overall water usage.

Over the past two fiscal years, nearly 3 million cubic meters of water have been saved at our global manufacturing operations. We are tracking these water savings through the measurement of incoming water, and continue to seek additional water conservation opportunities. We also are transferring best practices in later use efficiency across global facilities.

We have implemented many water-saving initiatives around the world:

• In North America, Heinz launched a series of internal initiatives referred to as Utility Optimization Projects in Fiscal 2007 that are expected to save 30 million gallons of water annually. At our facilities in the United States, water is being captured, treated and reused as many as 10 times in the manufacturing process.
  
  
• In Australia, Heinz achieved a 50% reduction in water used per every ton of product manufactured at our Echuca facility in Fiscal 2007. This was done through the installation of new equipment that regulates water use and includes motion sensors that turn water on and off when a line is in use, and by implementing new procedures to control water usage. A project to achieve a further 20% reduction in water usage is now underway.
  
  
• In Venezuela, Heinz saved 16.4 million gallons of water by upgrading to more efficient infant nutrition production equipment.
  
  
• In Europe, we took steps to improve wastewater cleaning and to cut overall water consumption.
  
  
• In China, Heinz is reusing treated discharged water for landscaping purposes, and has reduced water usage through staff education and technology.

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