Doing Good Because People and Communities Matter
Tree Top is committed to doing what we can to make a positive difference by volunteering and by donating our products and offering our financial support to qualifying charitable organizations. We support qualified organizations serving youth, education, and those considered integral to improving the overall quality of life in the communities in which our employees and growers reside and work.
Doing Good Because Our Environment Matters
We are conscientious about our impact on the environment and in our communities, and do what we can to make a positive difference.
As a grower-owned cooperative founded to reduce food waste and provide ongoing profits to local growers, Tree Top’s sustainability efforts have always been more than a buzzword.
A formal sustainability program was established more than a decade ago to reduce our impact on the environment. Tree Top has established goals and we track and report our energy, water and carbon emissions. It’s not easy work but it’s important which is why we continue to share our results each year in our Corporate Citizenship & Sustainability Report, found here.
We are real people providing real fruit products to loyal Tree Top customers and as such, we are committed to taking care of our employees, being responsible stewards of all our resources, and operating our business with integrity, as demonstrated by our Values.
Integrity
- We do the right thing, communicating openly and honestly, exhibiting behaviors consistent with our words, and are accountable for our results.
Respect for Others
- We build strong relationships—with growers, employees, customers and business partners—based on mutual respect and support, valuing each other’s experience, opinions and diversity.
Corporate Citizenship
- We are conscientious about our impact on the environment and in our communities, and do what we can to make a positive difference.
High-Performing Organization
- We recruit, train and retain highly skilled employees who recognize and adapt to our dynamic business environment, address challenges strategically, strive to improve performance and processes, and lead by example.
Sustainability
Tree Top, Inc. was founded to provide a home for grower’s excess fruit. Today, we are the largest apple processor in the United States, and are serious about our commitment to our employees and the environment. Our efforts include:
- Ensuring employee safety
- Providing fair compensation
- Minimizing packaging materials
- Waste reduction
- Efficient water use
- Conserving energy
- Air emission controls
Ensuring Employee Safety
Providing our employees with a safe work environment is our first priority. Each of our facilities has an active safety committee that acts as a second set of eyes and ears with respect to identifying and correcting potential safety hazards in the workplace. We take the time to celebrate reaching incident-free milestones.
Providing Fair Compensation
Tree Top regularly conducts compensation surveys in the areas in which we operate, to ensure we are providing our employees with competitive wage and benefits packages.
Minimizing Packaging Materials
We work closely with our packaging vendors to develop and use lightweight, recycled, recyclable, biodegradable, and/or compostable materials whenever possible. We’ve also reduced unnecessary cardboard and paper in case-packs. We believe we are taking steps to increase recycling and reduce landfill waste through these efforts.
Waste Reduction
Our primary purpose is to create healthful, tasty, apple and pear-based products using our growers’ culls. We use fruit not perfect enough for the fresh market, which keeps that fruit out of the waste stream.
We recycle a variety of materials from office paper to corrugated containers, from plastic to aluminum, and more. In addition, we seek out and use recycled materials, whenever appropriate, which also reduces waste to the landfill.
Efficient Water Use
Our intention is to be good stewards of the nearby rivers, streams and neighboring lands. Our continued improvement of wastewater treatment reduces effluents, and allows our treated wastewater to be used as irrigation to preserve resources. Working closely with Washington State University, Washington State Department of Ecology, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and other state and local agencies, Tree Top’s wastewater treatment facility has become regionally recognized as a model for such facilities.
In addition, we’ve reduced water consumption during processing by using the resulting condensation in our concentrator for product washing and boiler feedwater. This further reduces our reliance on city water.
Conserving Energy
We’ve recently completed an energy audit at all our plants. Using that information, we’ve worked closely with our energy providers to make changes in equipment, controls, lighting and processes to use less energy in our plants.
Air Emission Controls
Upgrading boiler equipment has allowed us to reduce air emissions associated with processing, as well as reduce our energy consumption.
Finally, most of our grower-owners’ families have been growing apples and other tree fruit for generations. Their very livelihood depends on taking good care of their orchards, their employees and their communities…for them, and for us, environmental stewardship is a way of life. It’s just the right thing to do!
Product Donations and Sponsorships
We support the communities in which we operate and in which our growers and employees reside. We do what we can to make a positive difference by volunteering and by donating our products and our financial support to qualifying charitable organizations. Click here to obtain our guidelines for donation requests.
