Opinion: A global effort

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21 Apr 2023

Margaret Ann Marsh

Margaret Ann Marsh is the VP of environmental and sustainability for Flowers Foods. In her role, she oversees Flowers’ environmental and regulatory compliance and sustainability efforts across its network of 46 bakeries. Marsh is responsible for the origination and continued development of the company’s environmental sustainability program.

This column is part of our Last Word series, which invites noted professionals to provide closing thoughts at the end of each issue of Commercial Baking. Read the April | Q2 issue of Commercial Baking.

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THOMASVILLE, GA — This month, the world celebrates Earth Day, a day of education about environmental issues and a demonstration of support for the protection of the air we breathe, the water we drink and all other natural resources.

Across our industry, companies are exploring ways to reduce use of resources like water, packaging and energy. And while there is work yet to do, we are improving in many areas, and I couldn’t be prouder of our collective efforts.

At Flowers, we recognize that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHG) may have an adverse impact on global temperatures, weather patterns, and the frequency and severity of extreme weather and natural disasters. We seek to reduce emissions through a combination of energy awareness and efficiency upgrades. And we know that small steps can yield big results.

Our energy strategy includes three key components — track, integrate and share.

We use an online energy management program to track energy use and emissions at all our facilities: bakeries, distribution centers and warehouses. Any unusual change in energy consumption that may warrant an investigation triggers an alert, notifying the facility’s management.

We improve energy efficiency by looking for ways to incorporate energy-saving measures when upgrading equipment, installing new production lines or designing new projects.

We want our team to be energy smart. We regularly communicate best practices from around the company and celebrate energy successes with the entire Flowers team.

As a result, we’ve lowered our GHG emissions by 22% since 2015. Additionally, 13 Flowers bakeries earned Energy Star certification from the US Environmental Protection Agency in 2022, which recognizes buildings that save energy and help protect the environment through reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Collaboration is a key tenet of our efforts; that includes collaboration among our internal teams, as well as with suppliers, vendors and other external organizations.

I encourage you to consider how you can integrate more sustainable processes in your own operations — no action is too small. Working together, our industry can continue to make great progress.

Thank you all for your contributions, and, of course, Happy Earth Day!

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