2010 WhiteWave Foods, Inc.

  • Who We Are
    • What We Make
    • Mission and Values
    • Our People Speak for Us
  • Making Better Choices
    • Products and Packaging
    • Sourcing
    • Energy and Emissions
  • Life As We Know It
    • Employee Actions
    • Our Perspective
  • Partners for Better
    • Better Together
    • How to Help
  • The Responsible Livelihood department focuses our efforts on sustaining and improving our communities and the environment. One part of this effort includes working with the technical and operations sides of our company to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Another facet involves getting our fellow employees engaged in making a difference — and helping them understand how their efforts go a long way in achieving our goal of becoming the earth’s favorite food company. For example, not everyone understands how compost works. What is compostable? What isn’t? This is where I come in. My team members and I act as a resource, organizing events that not only inform, but also create opportunities to participate. From sustainability seminars at lunch to volunteering at the local food bank, we constantly promote the company’s values. In fact, we even reward our people’s hard work by sharing the fruit of their labor. Through our onsite composting program, when springtime rolls around employees bring shovels, buckets and bags and help themselves to the wonderfully rich soil they helped produce. Compost is a great soil enhancer for gardens, stimulates healthy root development and diverts waste from landfills. And it’s a lot of fun to see the work come full circle.
  • Here in Maryland, a lot of our environmental efforts are focused on the Chesapeake Bay. It’s a dynamic eco-system, and the whole area relies on it. That’s why my team came to me with the idea of building a small dam to prevent rain run-off from turning a small tributary brown. One of the local environmental groups eventually came out to the farm to look at what we’d done. They asked us if we’d received any money to do the project. We told them no, nothing more than what we get from WhiteWave. “So you guys did this on your own,” they said. And I answered, “Absolutely.” They told us that no one in the area had done this before. We didn’t ask the government for money, or grants or any of that. We identified a problem that was affecting a lot of people, not just ourselves, and found a solution. That’s the kind of freedom and support we get from our company. They let us find our own way of becoming the earth’s favorite food company. That kind of trust and respect means a lot to us.
  • I’ve worked in the Jacksonville plant for over 30 years now. But it’s only been the last four years that I’ve worked for WhiteWave-Dean Foods, and the differences are astounding. With WhiteWave, we’ve been beating the bottom line, of course, and helping the company make money, but we’ve approached it in a remarkably different way. WhiteWave does not sacrifice quality in any way. We will not compromise our products. With that in mind, we’ve been able to upgrade our facilities almost immediately, and the capital we invested in the plant has brought us tremendous energy savings. Two years ago, we built a cooler to house our products. Before that we were running tractor-trailers just to keep the products cool. That’s only one story, but the support we get from WhiteWave and Dean Foods has been extremely rewarding. It’s affected every aspect of our work, and enabled us to care for our plant, inside and out. From incorporating “Lean Manufacturing” guidelines that have helped us dramatically cut down on waste to the simple act of our employees making sure the facility’s grounds are clean, we’re a better plant. Better in our ability to help the company achieve financial success, and better in our ability to reduce our overall environmental footprint. The community here in Jacksonville has seen this and I think it’s made a big difference.
  • My two young boys are quickly becoming men and my parents are getting on in years. So my perspective on how one spends his time has changed a bit recently. I’ve begun to ask myself, “What’s going to make a difference for my kids, for their kids and for the planet?” That’s a big reason why I’m glad I made a career here at WhiteWave. It’s a place where I can be a productive member of society, not just someone who nailed the numbers, four, six, eight quarters in a row. The question we ask ourselves here every day is not only how we can create value for our consumers, but also how we can do it in a way that goes beyond how 98 percent of consumer package goods companies operate. We answer that question by making better choices about our energy use, our packaging, the health benefits of our products, and how we interact with our local communities. I’m on the Board of Community Food Share, the largest provider of food to those in need in this part of the country. Our sphere of influence extends from Fort Collins to North Denver and from Port Huron out to the Plains. It’s something I’ve been involved in since I moved here. My wife is also involved, and the kids spend some time there too. From senior leadership on down, our people volunteer on a regular basis. What I tell people who come to work at WhiteWave is that they can make more of a difference here in a year than they can at most other companies. I find that exciting.
  • News
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • FAQ
  • Privacy Policy

© 2010 WhiteWave Foods Company