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the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program. This program promotes the protection of environmentally sensitive growing areas, soil and water conservation, and the prudent management of crop pests and herbicide use. The IPM program's goal is to use pesticides only to the extent necessary and, when necessary, to use only those that are environmentally friendly. Seventy-eight SYSCO Brand suppliers of canned and frozen fruit and vegetables, representing 168 food factories and about 375,000 acres of crop land were included in the highly successful first year of the program.
Through the use of IPM practices, participating suppliers reported the avoidance of more than 300,000 pounds of active ingredient pesticides during the year. In addition, approximately 155,000 tons of organic waste material, 6,400,000 pounds of cardboard and paper, 2,900,000 pounds of metal products and 1,600,000 pounds of plastic were reused or recycled by those same suppliers. We also focus on the amount of machine oil recycled and measure fuel usage across the acreage to encourage less tillage.
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