Musco Family Olive Co.: Making Black the New “Green”

For Immediate Release
February 2012
Contact: Debby Fortune, Fortune PR
debby@fortunepublicrelations.com
510-548-1097
Musco Family Olive Co.: Making Black the New “Green”
Third-Generation California-Based Olive Producer Leads the Industry
With Award-Winning Renewable ENERGY AND WATER SYSTEM(RENEWS tm)
[PLEASE CHECK WITH MY PREVIOUS QUESTIONS SENT ON THE 29th]
Tracy, California – Musco Family Olive Co., the leading supplier of table olives in America, is also a
leader in environmental sustainability. Musco’s 280-acre headquarters in the San Joaquin Valley is
home to the cleanest-burning biomass plant in California, and the company is fast approaching its
goal of achieving a 100% renewable production process.
The Tracy plant is the most advanced processing facility in
the world. “We are proof that innovative environmental
solutions are not only attainable but good business,” says
Musco CEO Felix Musco, representing the third generation
of the Musco family legacy. “We’re going to be able to
grow and expand with this technology. If we get another
order tomorrow, we can handle it one hundred percent
responsibly.”
Musco’s Environmental
Achievements, by the
numbers
8 billion olive pits
transformed into carbonneutral energy, annually
• 80% reduction in salt and
The company is using multiple innovations to shrink its
mineral use since 1985
footprint, including recycling almost all of its water through
• 90% of water recycled
a closed-loop irrigation system, extensive waste diversion
onsite
from landfills, institutional recycling programs, use of NyPa
• 100% of wastewater kept
grass to address soil salinity, and the creation of a cuttingedge biomass plant to power the Musco processing facility
onsite in a closed loop
with renewable energy.
system
• 98.5% of waste diverted
Turning Waste into Energy
BELOW; THE OLIVE ON
from landfill into reuse or
THE LEFT LOOKS LIKE IT HAS TWO STEMS?? LETS ADD A
institutional recycling
DELI OLIVE
Musco’s newest, boldest initiative is its award-winning Renewable
Energy and Wastewater System, called RENEWS. RENEWS is
the only closed-loop system like it in the world, where two
previous “waste” streams – in this case, olive pits and wastewater
– generateS CLEANS WATER AND ELECTRICITY. The system
was developed with expertise from INVENTOR Frank Schubert,
OWNER OF COMBINED SOLAR TECHNOLOGIES.
•
Musco pits over 8 billion olives every year. Through the RENEWS process, 15 tons of olive pits, which
are full of solar energy, are ignited every day in a clean-burning biomass furnace.
More…
Page 2: Musco Turns Waste into Energy
The substantial amount of energy created by the burning of the pits is used to evaporate and cleanse
Musco’s process water. The steam generated during the DISTILLING process is then used to drive
the largest industrial steam engine in the United States, which, in turn, supplies the plant with carbonneutral energy.
Musco’s significant investment in state-of-the-art emissions SYSTEMS AND controls has made
Musco’s RENEWS the cleanest burning biomass plant in California, if not the nation. “When you look
at it holistically, it works all the way around,” says Musco Environmental Director Ben Hall. “We’re
taking two waste streams, and from those, we wind up with clean water and electricity.”
Every year, RENEWS keeps 8 billion olive pits out of landfill and the system is expected to
ELLIMINATE fossil fuel emissions and dependence on the electrical grid.
In 2011, Musco was honored as a California 2011 Leader in Innovation in Energy and Agriculture by
Grow-California for its cutting-edge approach to business, which has a positive impact on California's
agricultural industry and economy. Musco received the "Game Changer of the Year Award" in the
category of Innovation in Energy and Agriculture specifically for RENEWS.
Water Recycling
Musco recycles more than 90% of all its
water in an onsite recycling project, reusing
the water for irrigation on its farm. The
remaining 10% is removed by a
combination of RENEWS and double-lined
evaporation ponds. From 2002 to 2011,
Musco has recycled almost 1.5 billion
gallons onsite in its innovative closed loop
system. One hundred percent of Musco’s
water is kept onsite and none is discharged
into a river or the ocean.
NyPa Forage
Soil salinity is a major problem in the San Joaquin Valley – especially
the west side, where soil is naturally alkaline. The typical solution to
growing a crop in these conditions is to plant salt-tolerant crops, but this
alone doesn’t remedy the salinity problem.
Musco is the first food processor in the U.S. to use a patented forage
crop called NyPa to permanently address soil salinity. NyPa grass
actively removes salt from the soil, which is vitally important in a facility
where salt is a byproduct of the production process.
More…
Page 3: Musco Turns Waste into Energy
Musco’s 180-acre NyPa crop is irrigated by wastewater, harvested one or two times per year, and
sold as cattle feed. The salt is permanently removed from the soil, and the crop can renew itself again
and again. In the past 15 years, Musco Environmental Director Ben Hall and his team have cut salt
and mineral use at the Tracy processing plant by 80%.
To read more about Musco’s environmental achievements or to see a video of Musco’s cutting-edge
environmental efforts in action, go to www.olives.com/environment.asp .
Stewardship as a Company Value
Musco believes that sustainability and environmental stewardship are more about evolution than
about revolution. They have been an important part of the company’s mission since 1942, and the
company has fully integrated sustainability into its corporate culture. The facilities have been updated
with energy-efficient lighting, pumps, and motors. With a forward-looking distribution and logistics
program, the company works to optimize intermodal transportation to make sure that products are
shipped by the most energy- and cost-effective means. Through employee awareness training
programs and continuous improvement teams, the efforts are multiplied as employees apply
principles of conservation, energy efficiency, recycling, proper universal waste disposal, recycling, and
safety to their daily lives at work and at home.
Musco Family Olive Co. products are available nationally as Pearls® and Early California®. The
company makes three lines of olives that are grown and processed in California – Black Ripe, Fresh
Cured™ and Infusions™ – and two lines of imported Mediterranean olives, Pimiento Stuffed and
Specialties™ (Kalamatas, Jalapeño Stuffed and Garlic Stuffed).LETS BE LESS SPECIFIC ON THE
PRODUCT LINE, MAYBE JUST LIST THE BRANDS, WOULD LIKE TO MAKE IT SOUND MORE
BROAD SO IT CAPTURES OUR FUTURE ITEMS
About Musco Family Olive Co.
Musco Family Olive Co., a privately-held family business, is the leading branded retail supplier of
table olives in America. The company’s Pearls® and Early California® brands command over 55%
of the total national branded market share and use nearly half of the 29,000 acre California olive crop.
Musco is a leader in environmental sustainability, with a unique closed loop water recycling program,
a waste program that diverts 98.5% of the company’s waste from landfill into beneficial reuse or
institutional recycling, a patented forage system that actively removes salt from the soil, and an
award-winning renewable energy wastewater system (RENEWS) that makes Musco the cleanest
burning biomass plant in California, if not the nation. Join the Musco Family Facebook community at
www.facebook.com/EarlyCaliforniaOlives or www.facebook.com/PearlsOlives .
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