COMMERCIAL SALES

Sustainability

Hickman’s Cares

Over 1 million plastic bottles are recycled per week to make Hickman’s egg containers.

How many plastic bottles will you save?

Enter details about the Hickman's Egg you buy to calculate your impact.

12-count 18-count
Every Week Every Two Weeks Every Month
Number of plastic bottles you're saving from landfills each year = 0

 

RECYCLED & RECYCLABLE

Hickman’s 12-count plastic egg carton = 3 post-consumer bottles

Hickman’s 18-count plastic egg carton = 4 post-consumer bottles

Total Bottles Saved from the Landfill to Date:

Vertical Integration/Closing the Waste Streams

Hickman’s Family Farms is shaking a tail feather when it comes to our commitment to sustainability. From how we develop, produce and market our products to how we care and respect our hens, land and environment in which we operate, we are dedicated to closing waste streams through extreme vertical integration, including:

  • Buildings that are strategically aligned to take advantage of prevailing wind patterns, thereby using less energy to maintain optimum interior climates year-round.
  • Utilizing natural lighting in new buildings and retrofitting existing structures to reduce electrical usage during the daytime hours of operation.
  • Eliminating the use of 16 trucks, traveling 160 miles, 365 days per year through our family owned and operated feed mill.

Cage Free

While our eggs may sometimes have a bit of the devil in them, how we treat our hens is purely angelic… because Hickman’s Family Farms is proud to be part of the American Humane CertifiedTM program, which helps assure our flocks are raised humanely and under the protections established by American Humane. Free to roam and flock, the hens that produce Hickman’s cage-free eggs happily live in a fresh air environment where they are protected from predators. To learn more, please visit www.AmericanHumane.org.

PET Packaging - Recycled and Recyclable

We want to be transparent with you here… we love recycling! That’s why we don’t put our eggs in just any basket. We are the first and only egg producer packaging our eggs in polyethylene terephthalate, known commonly as “PET”, the clear plastic used for water and soda bottle containers. PET is recognized as a safe, non-toxic, strong, lightweight, flexible material that is 100 percent recyclable. In fact, it’s the most widely recycled plastic in the world. Almost every municipal recycling program in the United States accepts PET packaging and recycling of thermoformed PET containers is gaining momentum. Hickman’s wants to keep that trend going.

Water Conservation

Yes, we can be hard boiled, but that doesn’t mean we use a lot of H2O in the process. Through innovation, Hickman’s Family Farms is using fewer natural resources to produce the freshest local eggs. Specifically, our water usage to produce a dozen eggs has been reduced by one-third. And even though we are using less water, our hens’ egg production has increased by 27% – and they are living longer, healthier, happier lives.

ROBOTICS

“Our managers need to make sure that our robots are doing the hard work so it is easier on our staff.” – Billy Hickman

Robots make hard tasks easier for us mere humans, while reducing packaging waste and ensuring we don’t crack up. At Hickman’s, we love our robots so much, we’ve actually named them. Meet the most technologically advanced members of our team:

 

Big Bill & Big Bill Full Throttle

  • Prevents team members from having to lift 600 cases every hour for ten-hour shifts.
  • Gently transports finished product, reducing breakage.
  • Reduces electric transport device movement and satisfies noise abatement.
  • Reduces workers’ lower back strains and upper body and trunk injuries.

Shrinky

  • Uses the minimal amount of plastic to stabilize pallets for movement.
  • Reduces the shipping department use of pallet wrap for stabilization.
  • Eliminates the need for staff to go in circles for 10 hours per day.

The MOBA machines

  • Reduce energy consumption by 66%.
  • Substantially reduces water usage.
  • Decreases shell breakage.

Lucy & Her Sisters

  • Place eggs gently in cases.
  • Increase productivity while reducing product breakage.
  • Reduce hand and arm injuries, as well as back strain and pain.
  • Prevent eggs backing up and breaking.

See what happened to Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs!

Latest Sustainability News
Local egg farm makes own cartons with recycled plastic

Hickmans Family Farms helps reuse plastic and avoids supply chain problems. Since the start of the pandemic, Hickman’s Family Farms has been working to counteract supply chain issues through a new venture. They wanted to find a way to reduce waste while packaging their eggs faster, so they dove into the world of recycling plastics.

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Union Pacific Reduces Carbon footprint

At Union Pacific, we take pride in offering one of the safest, most fuel-efficient, environmentally responsible modes of freight transportation.

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Lower in Emissions and Cumulative Energy Demand

From 1960 to 2010, per kilogram of eggs produced the environmental footprint was 71% lower in greenhouse gas emissions and 31% lower in cumulative energy demand.

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