Defiance, Iowa — Smitty Bee, a leading honey packer and producer, takes their commitment to the environment just as seriously as they take their commitment to high quality honey. The operation makes the environment a consideration during every step of their honey production process, from energy consumption to its distribution chain to recycling used materials, all in an effort to protect the honeybees and ecosystems critical to its business. Smitty Bee is currently taking additional steps to be environmentally conscious during the construction of their new facility, which is being built with reduced energy consumption in mind.
The new 25,000 square foot addition to the operation features heated floors for the entire building, energy-efficient light fixtures, redesigned batch tanks, high efficiency ceiling fans, and a two-inch thick cooler panel for energy efficiency within the location’s climate control system. The company also recently installed a hot water boiler system 20 times the size of its predecessor that uses half the energy. Future building improvement plans include a new roof for the existing building designed to reduce heating and cooling usage by 20%.
Smitty Bee currently processes over 16,000 barrels of honey each year, all of which are shipped in iron drums. The drums and other scrap materials such as cardboard are compacted or compressed to conserve shipping space and recycled locally.
The company is also mindful of the environment when orders are shipped. To achieve a reduction in negative environmental impacts and costs simultaneously, Smitty Bee General Manager Tony Schmitz combines orders to build customer distribution channels wherever possible.
“Taking care of the environment is just the right thing to do,” says Schmitz. “There are no industry standards for environmental impacts, but Smitty Bee Honey and all of our employees take pride in holding ourselves to a higher standard in everything we do.”