Sustainability

Stewards Of The Land

Idahoan Foodservice and Honest Earth is committed to sustainable farming and business practices. We strive to provide high quality nourishment while supporting a thriving and sustainable livelihood for our farmers, employees, and communities.

Less Waste

Better Resource Management

Support of Farmers

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Since the seeds of our business were planted, we have been committed to providing the highest quality potatoes while maintaining the integrity of the land we work. As stewards of the land, we’re committed to sustainable practices that reduce the impact of our processes on the environment while ensuring the highest quality product makes it onto your customers’ plates. Reduction is our primary strategy to make the greatest impact, followed by reuse of any and all items that we can, and then finally recycling what we no longer can use.

Step 1

Reduce

Water Consumption

We have identified fresh water intensive systems to reduce our overall water usage, and have redirected single-use, clean water back upstream to create a series of water-recycling loops which allow for fresh water consumption to remain at neutral levels.

We are proud to say that in 2017, our Idaho Falls facility was able to increase production by 65% while successfully keeping fresh water consumption neutral.

Carbon Emissions

Because we remove all the moisture from our fresh-dried potatoes, they are seven times more efficient to transport than raw potatoes.

That means that for every seven truckloads of frozen and refrigerated potatoes delivered, Idahoan only requires one!

Criteria Air Pollutants

Through a combination finding and switching to alternative fuels and increasing emission controls, we have pushed to reduce the amount of criteria air pollutants released from Idahoan facilities through farming, processing, and transport.

Over the course of the past 14 years, we are proud to say that Idahoan has been able to decrease criteria air pollutant emissions by 46%. That’s 300 tons per year for a total of 4,198.3 tons!

Step 2

Reuse

Water Reuse

Our water comes down from the peaks of the beautiful, pristine Grand Teton Mountains into the fertile Teton Valley where it’s used to grow and clean our potatoes. From there, the water is filtered and repurposed for agricultural use throughout local economies.

Our innovative water reuse program allows us to sustain local aquifers with hundreds of millions of gallons of water per year.

In 2020 alone, over 404 million gallons of water, the equivalent of 612 Olympic-sized swimming pools, were used, looped, and reused for crop cultivation – that’s a lot of laps!

Food Waste

Food is at the center of what we do here at Idahoan – and we do our very best to ensure minimal food waste in our processes.

Each year, Idahoan is able to supplement the nutrition of over 35,000 cows with leftover potato products. Rather than finding their way down the drain or into the trash, these scraps – an assortment of peels, fragments, and starches – in combination with crops grown using our repurposed water, serve as feed provisions for local agriculture partners.

Corrugated Cardboard

We reuse our cardboard boxes and totes as much as possible for storage and transportation, but when they can no longer bear the weight of our products, they are re-homed to a local business who can use them.

In 2020 alone, 62% of our corrugated totes were re-homed, the equivalent of 2,723 trees, or 17 trees per ton of corrugated cardboard!

Additionally, our totes are made from 43% recycled fibers, and our retail cartons are always made from 100% recycled materials.

*Calculations derived using standardized EPA tools.

Step 3

Recycle

Corrugated Containers & Paper

Idahoan routinely recycles corrugated containers and office paper.

In 2020 alone, we were able to recycle 117 tons of paper products, the equivalent of approximately 1,989 trees – that’s 17 trees per ton of paper!*

Scrap Metal

We also recycle all scrap metal from construction projects, equipment upgrades, and general maintenance.

All of the scrap metal that Idahoan recycles is equivalent to 58% of the steel used in the Statue of Liberty!

*U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2016, March 30). Environmental Factoids | WasteWise
Program. https://archive.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/smm/wastewise/web/html/factoid.html