How Bob’s Red Mill leads with innovation on environmental sustainability

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How Bob’s Red Mill leads with innovation on environmental sustainability

15 Dec 2021

Jordan Winter

Jordan Winter is a journalist who wants to learn more and teach others about the world through storytelling. Dedicated to positive social change, her reporting is informed by years of experience writing, designing, and producing multimedia content for mission-driven publications and nonprofits.

As the creative director for Commercial Baking, Jordan is bringing life to the stories of diversity and sustainability in the commercial baking industry.

MILWAUKIE, OR — The baking industry is making strides toward environmental sustainability. As the climate crisis worsens, plants are trying to reduce their carbon footprint and keep up with increasing energy regulations. But some are going above and beyond. Companies on the frontlines of the sustainability movement weave this approach into every aspect of their businesses to drive success and innovation.

Bob’s Red Mill is one of these standard setters. The 100% employee-owned company, which is leading the organic, whole grain and gluten-free foods space, is committed to nourishing both people and the planet.

Many of the brand’s ongoing initiatives are centered on reducing carbon emissions. Its practices include minimizing the impact of its packaging and partnering with Energy Trust of Oregon on world-class efficiency in its operations. And in March 2021, Bob’s Red Mill installed a 120-kW solar panel system to provide renewable energy for its whole grain store, restaurant and bakery.

“We’ve already saved 87 tons of CO2 with these solar panels,” said Julia Person, sustainability manager for Bob’s Red Mill. “That’s the equivalent of planting 1,300 trees, and the renewable energy helps power electric vehicle charging stations for customers.”

Reducing food waste is another top priority for Bob’s Red Mill. By pledging to the Pacific Coast Collaborative Food Waste Commitment, the company is working to reduce its food waste by 50% by 2030. This is partially made possible by upcycling its rescued mill scrap to use as local animal feed.

Person has led many sustainability achievements since joining the Bob’s Red Mill team earlier this year. Since then, she has already been awarded the Leader in Sustainability Gold Certification by Oregon’s Clackamas County. And there’s plenty more to come next year.

Building off the company’s momentum, Person seeks to implement new initiatives in 2022. This includes Carbon Inventory, a process measuring both direct and supply chain emissions to identify areas for improvement; Green Fleet, a 10-year program to convert its fleet to electric vehicles and providing electric vehicle chargers for all employees; and Stormwater Work, which maps out mitigation opportunities to clean and treat water before it leaves the company’s site.

In 2022, Bob’s Red Mill will also measure the water impact, soil health and biodiversity of its priority ingredients, with eight key metrics overall. “Because of this, we will be able to say, here’s our current impact, and here’s where we need to work to improve,” Person said.

“Reach out to your community, whether it’s other manufacturers, neighboring businesses or your utility providers to become more sustainable together,” she said. “You’ll find great resources, best practices and expertise right outside of your doorstep.”

Person is also leading Bob’s Red Mill’s membership role in its local community advisory task force.

“Clackamas County has a goal of being carbon neutral by 2050, and the task force has been meeting since July to help develop a climate action plan to meet that goal,” Person said. “Businesses such as ours will be a crucial partner in helping our county collectively meet the carbon neutral goal, and we’re also advocating by taking actionable steps in our own operations.”

Despite all these wins, pursuing sustainability isn’t necessarily easy.

“Sustainability touches every area of our company and all aspects of our value chain, so it can be a challenge to understand where our efforts will make the most impact,” Person said.

She says that comprehensively measuring their indirect carbon emissions that occur upstream and downstream in their supply chain — commonly referred to as Scope 3 emissions — is incredibly challenging. Their team is approaching this undertaking by first focusing on their ten priority ingredients for its initial carbon inventory: oats, wheat, almonds, coconut, quinoa, sugar, cocoa, corn, rice and tapioca/cassava.

Person has plenty of tips to help other food manufacturers become more environmentally friendly in their own operations. Most importantly, she emphasizes finding community, like how her team joined the Energy Trust of Oregon’s year-long Strategic Energy Management cohort, where they can share best practices with other local manufacturers on implementing low- and no-cost energy.

“Reach out to your community, whether it’s other manufacturers, neighboring businesses or your utility providers to become more sustainable together,” she said. “You’ll find great resources, best practices and expertise right outside of your doorstep.”

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