our Planet

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Twin Rivers Technologies recognizes the inherent value of natural ecosystems and our reliance on those systems. Our organization relies on our deep water marine terminal and the surrounding waterways for our continued operations. We are heavily invested in maintaining sustainable production systems that integrate with the surrounding environment both natural and man-made.

To protect ecosystems like the Fore and Town Rivers, our Quincy, MA facility is designed to prevent releases and minimize the impact of our operations on the environment. We have installed a comprehensive emergency response procedure and contingency plans to address potential issues that may threaten our community or the environment.

We pursue proper waste disposal, reduction of waste and emissions, and the development of renewable resources. Turning waste into bioenergy and into new products helped again change waste streams into valuable commodities. In 2020, TRT continued our recycling program to reduce waste that would otherwise be landfilled. This effort includes the creation of recycling centers in all office and production areas, the deployment of new recycling containers each of these areas and the removal of general trashcans at desks and workstations to promote recycling. TRT celebrated Earth Day in 2020 again with a Sapling Program. However, this year, the saplings TRT donated to the State of California to help with reforestation after the recent wildfires and to continue our carbon sequestration effort. Projected emissions reduction over the life of the saplings these could reduce carbon emissions by almost 4 million pounds!

We are committed to finding opportunities to build a more sustainable operation and work harmoniously within the communities that we are a part of.

REDUCE: ENERGY CONSUMPTION & EMISSIONS

TRT has had a steady electrical load since 2012. Prior to 2012, we executed a number of energy conservation projects to reach our current demand. These included relighting, pump and equipment modifications. The most impactful energy and conservation efforts have been the installation of the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) System, which has allowed TRT to generate much of our electrical load, and the Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO) system that reduced our annual water demand. Both of these projects also reduced emissions.

ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION (kWh)

 

FUEL CONSUMPTION* (MWh)

 

*Since 2012 when we installed a natural gas feed system and TRT has since utilized natural gas as its primary fuel. We have the ability to also use #6 Oil, #2Oil and biofuels that we produce on site as a means to produce steam and electricity. The change to natural gas has had multiple positive effects. We now operate at a lower cost, more reliably and have lower overall emissions.

EMISSIONS

TRT has long strived for opportunities to improve the way we operate and to be more efficient and cleaner, especially with respect to fuels.

In 2002, TRT began using animal fat and vegetable oil derivatives called Natural Oil Byproduct or NOB as our primary fuel source. NOB is almost 100% sulfur free and produces significantly less nitrogen oxide (both acid rain pollutants), and was used to replace liquid fuels like #6 and #2 Oils. In 2012, we converted our boilers from liquid streams to duel fire capability that can utilize natural gas. This led to immediate reductions in greenhouse gas emission and more importantly, allows us to generate most of our electrical needs.

VEGETABLE OIL GROWTH PROJECT…
AN EMISSIONS STORY

TRT began the Vegetable Oil Growth Project in 2019 with the goal of developing new and growing existing products with sustainable vegetable oil feedstock alternatives. This is both economically and environmentally important to TRT. TRT is vertically integrated with our suppliers in Southeast Asia and can take advantage of our deep water port to bring vegetable oils to our facility at lower cost. Beyond the economic impact, this conversion has two environmental affects: first it reduces the amount of truck and rail traffic that delivers tallow for processing and replaces that mode of transportation with vessel tanker deliveries which have far less GHG impact. However, the greater savings on GHG emissions is how that tallow will be utilized when not coming to TRT. Tallow is not only a raw material for our industry but is also used as a biofuel alternative to petro fuels in other industries. By replacing tallow with vegetable oil the tallow will likely be used as a fuel. TRT has direct experience with tallow as a fuel as it was our primary fuel from 2002 to 2014. Compared to petro fuels, tallow burns much cleaner, it contains no sulfur and therefore does not release sulfur dioxide. Additionally, it burns more completely than most petro fuels because of oxygen entrained in its chemical makeup, allowing for more complete combustion and 30% less nitrogen oxide development. And when combusted tallow, also releases just over half the amount of CO2 into the atmosphere. Between 2019 and 2020, the project potentially reduced CO2 loadings by 13,000 tons and upon completion, will provide a reduction in emissions of over 400,000 MT every year! At TRT, we continue to look for new ways, both direct and indirect, to reduce our carbon footprint and will continue to help meet the goals of the Paris Climate Accord and UN Sustainable Development Goals.

MONITORING

TRT closely monitors emissions, ones we are directly responsible for ( Scope 1), those that are the result of purchased electricity (Scope 2) and those from our supply chain and transportation (Scope 3). Our performance since adopting the goals of the Paris Climate Accord can be seen in the emissions tables below. In our efforts to reduce emissions, we have converted to natural gas as our primary fuel, and the NOB fuel became a saleable fuel to offset other uses of petroleum. The gas conversion led to better scope one and two emissions. TRT is one of the few, if not the only oleochemical facility in North America with transparency on Scope 3 emissions. TRT believes that by monitoring these emissions individually we can better focus on reducing them in kind. In 2020, you can clearly see the emissions per pound of production has steadily fallen over the last few years speaking to our overall efficiency. The other improvement of note, not necessarily due to our direct involvement, is the overall reduction in scope two emissions as the grid we rely on converts to renewable energy sources.

DIRECT EMISSIONS

Scope 1 Emmissions (MTCO2e)
 

INDIRECT EMISSIONS

Scope 2 Emissions (MTCO2e)
 

SUPPLY CHAIN EMISSIONS

Supply Chain Scope 3 Emmissions (MTCO2e)
 

CDP Reporting

TRT recognizes the threat that the entire world community faces with climate change. To increase our transparency TRT joined the Carbon Disclosure Project in 2020 and in 2021 began reporting into the forum. TRT has worked to hold our emissions in check to prevent any rise in global temperature over 1.5C between now and 2030 and beyond. However, the proof is in the pudding … or in this case, the data. The environmental impact we have on the planet is reported to the regulatory agencies on a continuous basis and shared with the public in our annual Sustainability Report. The CDP Project is another opportunity to become an active part in reducing the impact of climate change that affects us all.

TRT has a stated goal of limiting our carbon footprint so to support the 1.5C Climate Challenge over the next 10 years. We began this initiative in 2017 EBY (Emission Baseline Year) and have reduced our carbon footprint by 5%. Initiatives that limit carbon emissions will help to achieve this goal.

REUSE: SOURCE & WASTE REDUCTION

TARGETING ZERO

TRT has set a goal of outperforming the Paris Climate Accord and SDG goals for emissions and is targeting zero growth of emissions and waste streams over the next ten years (2017 baseline). We believe this will be possible through the development of renewable energy sources, waste minimization and conservation.

One of TRT’s most important natural resources is water. We use water as a catalyst in our hydraulization processes. That process allows TRT to “split” fats and oils into fatty acids and glycerin. All of our products are hydrolyzed before going on to further refinement. Water is the key to success, but in the Northeast that comes at a cost. To promote water conservation and to reduce load on the municipal supply TRT has piloted and is ready to recover the water used in process and create a closed loop treatment system. That project has been piloted on two occasions and will be a significant sustainability opportunity for the facility.

RESPONSIBLE SOURCING

TRT manufactures a variety of fatty acid and glycerin-based products using many different raw materials. These materials include coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, soybean oil, and animal fats. TRT’s responsibility is to provide the products that our customers request, while recognizing that each of the materials we require for manufacturing present unique environmental challenges. We are committed to upholding responsible sourcing practices to reduce the environmental and social impacts associated with our products. TRT holds certifications under the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and has instituted a Supplier Code of Conduct that requires our supply chain members meet or exceed the responsible sourcing requirements of the RSPO.

Beyond those certifications, TRT is actively working to bring sustainably sourced products to our customers. We currently offer ten different Responsibly Sourced Palm Mass Balanced products and eleven Coconut Only products. Since this initiative began in 2017, the total volume of both product lines exceeds 12 million lbs per year and is expected to grow.

In 2021, TRT instituted a Supplier Code of Conduct to communicate our expectations of the companies in our supply chain as it relates to ESG concerns. We also began a Supplier ESG auditing / survey program to quantify supplier performance to that end.

RAW MATERIALS

 
 
 

RECYCLE: WASTE PRODUCTION & TRASH REDUCTION

WASTE GENERATION

TRT strives to reduce the volume of our waste streams, which have historically been disposed of to landfills or as hazardous / regulated waste. Through reengineering, reprocessing, energy recovery, recycling or the identification of new sales outlets, we have been able to reduce waste sources that are “disposed of” to a fraction of the total potential volumes. Focused efforts by our entire organization have allowed TRT to reduce our total waste discharge by 96% of our total potential waste discharge

TRT has maintained a Waste Circularity system since 2015 and before. This effort has given us a clear understanding of our wastestreams. This has provided us with information to find opportunities to reuse, recycle and repurpose materials that would otherwise be disposed of.

WASTE AND RECYCLING
(REPORTED IN SHORT TONS)