TUCKER, Ga. — The U.S. Poultry & Egg Association recently announced the recipients of the 2026 Clean Water Award: Darling Ingredients Inc., in Fayetteville, N.C.; and Pilgrim’s in Mayfield, Ky.
This annual award honors poultry facilities that demonstrate exceptional performance in wastewater treatment, water reuse and overall sustainability. Winners were selected by a committee of industry engineers and university experts and recognized at USPOULTRY’s annual Environmental Management Seminar.
Awards are presented in two categories: pretreatment and full treatment. The pretreatment category covers facilities that partially treat their wastewater before discharging the effluent to a publicly owned treatment facility for further processing. The full treatment category includes facilities that treat wastewater according to their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, allowing treated effluent to be discharged into a receiving stream. To qualify for the award, facilities must have at least two years of no significant noncompliance, Notices of Violation, or any other type of enforcement action.
Darling Ingredients Inc. is the recipient in the pretreatment category for its poultry rendering facility in Fayetteville, N.C. The facility processes approximately 1,800 tons of protein and byproducts per day and operates a wastewater pretreatment system with a design capacity of 0.8 million gallons per day.
The facility uses solids separation, dissolved air flotation and biological treatment to reduce organic loading and ammonia before discharge to the municipal treatment system. Treated wastewater is reused for plant washdown, cooling and other non-product applications, while stormwater capture, condensate recovery and other conservation measures help reduce freshwater use and discharge.
The facility also upcycles approximately 25 million pounds of poultry and food-service materials each week into feed, pet food ingredients and renewable fuel feedstocks. These efforts are supported by employee training, preventive maintenance and environmental monitoring. In addition, the facility has maintained compliance with local stormwater requirements, earning repeated recommendations from the City of Fayetteville for stormwater fee credits.
Pilgrim’s is the recipient in the full treatment category for its small bird debone processing facility in Mayfield, Ky. The Mayfield Complex has made significant investments in water conservation, wastewater treatment and operational efficiency, while processing approximately 1.95 million birds per week.
Over the past decade, the facility has invested more than $17.5 million in water and wastewater infrastructure, including upgrades to filtration, aeration and treatment systems. A treated-effluent reuse system recycles at least 250,000 gallons of water daily for non-product-contact uses, while automatic shutoffs and occupancy controls further reduce water and energy consumption.
In 2022, the facility installed a closed loop scalder system that reduced water use by approximately 0.5 gallons per bird, while also lowering natural gas consumption. These efforts, supported by operator training, preventive maintenance and around-the-clock water and wastewater management, have helped reduce resource use and improve the facility’s environmental efficiency.
An honorable mention with distinction in the pretreatment category was presented to Perdue Foods LLC’s Draper Valley Farms facility in Mount Vernon, Wash. An honorable mention with distinction award in the full treatment category was presented to Pilgrim’s in Cold Spring, Minn.
“These facilities were recognized with this year’s Clean Water Awards for their continued commitment to environmental stewardship and responsible resource management,” USPOULTRY Chair Bill Griffith, Peco Foods, said. “Through investments in water reuse, wastewater treatment, resource conservation and employee training, they are implementing practical solutions that improve operational efficiency, protect natural resources and support the communities in which they operate.”
