Processing and Distribution

As part of our commitment to sustainability, we continue to pursue opportunities across our supply chain, extending beyond the seafood we source.  Here are some of the things we are doing or have done already:

Processing

Energy efficiency is a top priority for High Liner Foods.  At our processing facility in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia we will be able to reduce our energy consumption by 550,000 kWh annually though retrofitting the lighting.  Phase one of our project is already completed.  By changing the interior lighting and the lights in the parking lot, we not only reduced annual energy consumption by 200,000 kWh, our workers found that it actually made the plant brighter because we used cutting edge technology.

For phase two, we will be replacing the remaining interior lights, which will result in an additional 350,000 kWh reduction in energy consumption.  Once the lighting is overhauled, our Maintenance and Engineering Team will be turning its attention to the plant’s compressed air system, which has the potential to reduce energy consumption by an additional 240,000 kWh annually.

Packaging

High Liner is working towards more efficient packaging configurations and, where possible, redesigning packaging to use less material while increasing performance.  This includes reducing packaging sizes and using low volatile organic compound inks, non-corrugated cartons for shipping and more recyclable materials. Like our other sustainability initiatives, it is an ongoing process and we continue to work closely with our packaging suppliers to identify other opportunities to make High Liner’s packaging as environmentally-friendly as possible.

A specific action we took in 2011 was to convert the master carton used to ship FPI products within the United States and internationally from white paper to Kraft paper.  This was a relatively simple step but resulted in a significant shift toward more environmentally friendly packaging.  The new Kraft paper cartons have many environmental benefits because they are made from 100% recycled fibres that have been carefully sorted and screened to remove contaminants, metals, etc.  And the graphics on the package are printed using water-based, metal-free inks.