Texan by Nature is excited to recognize Darling Ingredients as a 2024 TxN 20 honoree for their leadership in conservation and sustainability. Darling Ingredients’ commitment to conservation, their projects, programs, best practices, and lessons learned are an example and inspiration for us all.

Honoree Name: Darling Ingredients  

Honoree Industry and Size: Agriculture; Enterprise 

Company Overview: A pioneer in circularity, Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE: DAR) takes material from the animal agriculture and food industries, and transforms them into valuable ingredients that nourish people, feed animals and crops, and fuel the world with renewable energy. The company operates over 260 facilities in more than 15 countries and processes about 15% of the world’s animal agricultural by-products, produces about 30% of the world’s collagen (both gelatin and hydrolyzed collagen) and is one of the largest producers of renewable energy. To learn more, visit darlingii.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Darling Ingredients’ Irving, Texas office.

What is Darling Ingredients’ conservation and sustainability mission and why is it important to your culture?
At Darling Ingredients, we give every end a new beginning. Nothing in nature is wasted. Every atom of every living thing is reused again and again.   

We apply this same circularity to industry, taking materials that would otherwise be wasted and transforming them into hundreds of valuable ingredients that the world depends on daily – food for livestock, pets and people; gelatin and collagen for human health and wellbeing; low-emission fuel for cars, trucks, trains and planes; and renewable energy to power homes and businesses.  

We’re always chasing new ways to maximize resources and help the world find solutions, innovating to create new products from the old, making lives better and more sustainable. A whole new cycle of good, born from the old, exactly as nature intended.  

As a family of brands and businesses that spans the globe, we’re the number one publicly traded company of our kind. Our unique scale allows us to make entire industries less wasteful and more sustainable, while helping to keep our own business sustainably profitable.   

Being in business for more than a century has taught us many lessons. The greatest of which is this: the best way to protect nature is to act like nature.   

At Darling Ingredients, that’s exactly what we do – giving every end a new beginning.   

What steps is Darling Ingredients’ taking to address global natural resource challenges, and how are these efforts integrated into your overall business strategy?  
We set a goal to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and are now in the process of creating a roadmap with interim milestones to guide our approach. To lay the foundation for the work ahead, we are developing a Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction target to submit to the SBTi for validation by the end of 2024. By year-end 2024, we plan to submit a near-term Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG reduction target to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) for validation, demonstrating our commitment to achieving net zero GHG emissions by 2050. 

“Sustainability is at the core of Darling Ingredients. We repurpose and recycle materials from the animal agriculture and food industries, transforming them into essential ingredients that do everything from feeding animals, to fertilizing crops, to fueling planes and nourishing people. Our unique size and scale allow us to enable entire industries to be less wasteful and more sustainable, and we continually seek out ways to maximize resources and help move the world toward a more circular economy. We’re proud to have been honored as one of the Texan by Nature 20 for the past several years because Texas has an important role to play in creating a sustainable world, and Darling Ingredients is proud to play a leading role in shaping that future.”

– Ethan Carter, Director of Sustainability, Darling Ingredients

Who in Darling Ingredients is leading your conservation and sustainability efforts and what are some examples of employee engagement in conservation and sustainability at Darling Ingredients?
Darling Ingredients’ Chairman and CEO Randall C. Stuewe, Vice President of Investor Relations, Sustainability and Global Communications Suann Guthrie, and Director of Sustainability Ethan Carter have been integral to the company’s conservation efforts. 

Cleaning La Sorgue River: For many years, including into 2024, our Rousselot brand has participated in annual volunteer clean-up efforts to extract waste from the Sorgue River in France near our L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue facility. The waste, which included tins, plastic bottles, old fishing nets and a variety of other trash is captured, removed and recycled, when possible. Cleaning up rivers helps mitigate health risks for humans, freshwater aquatic species living along the river and nearby terrestrial wildlife who may use the river as their water source.

Enhancing biodiversity in Brazil: In 2023, our Rousselot brand also began a reforestation project which aims to restore and enhance biodiversity in the Presidente Epitacio Region, near Teodoro Sampaio city, in Brazil. By planting 12,700 trees, comprising 80 different native species, the project recovers degraded areas and establishes vital environmental corridors for local fauna and flora. Collaborating with the Ipê Institute, the endeavor seeks to safeguard and nurture these trees, to help ensure comprehensive restoration of the ecosystem. Through sustained efforts into 2024, the project exemplifies a commitment to environmental stewardship and the preservation of natural habitats for future generations.

Darling Ingredients employees cleaning the La Sorgue River. 

What conservation and sustainability programs and projects does Darling Ingredients lead and participate in?
Darling Ingredients’ most significant sustainable investment is in Diamond Green Diesel (DGD), our 50/50 joint venture with Valero Energy Corporation. Formed in January 2011, DGD designed, built, and now operates its first facility in St. Charles, Louisiana, which began producing renewable diesel and co-products in June 2013. In late 2022, we opened a second DGD facility in Port Arthur, Texas, with an annual production capacity of 470 million gallons, bringing DGD’s total capacity to 1.2 billion gallons of renewable diesel per year. In January 2023, we announced plans to upgrade 50% of the Port Arthur facility’s production to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), positioning DGD to become one of the world’s largest SAF producers by late 2024.

Beyond DGD, Darling Ingredients focuses on energy efficiency and emissions reduction. We’ve invested in upgrading equipment at our global facilities and are transitioning from carbon-intensive fuels to cleaner-burning natural gas in North America. We’re also exploring ways to reduce emissions from our U.S.-based fleet, which accounts for about 7% of our total emissions, and plan to use natural gas to fuel part of our international fleet in the EU by 2024.

Lastly, we’re working toward carbon neutrality at our rendering facilities, exploring electric processing equipment and retrofitting existing plants to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. These initiatives reflect our commitment to a lower-carbon future.

Green Diamond Diesel fuel tanks in Port Arthur, Texas.

What strategies does Darling Ingredients use to educate and raise awareness among employees, customers, and stakeholders about the importance of conservation and sustainability?
Darling Ingredients employs several strategies to educate employees, customers, and stakeholders about conservation and sustainability. We offer regular training, including workshops and online modules, to ensure our workforce understands sustainable practices. Our intranet provides consistent updates on sustainability initiatives to keep employees informed.

For customers, we publish annual sustainability progress reports. We engage stakeholders with transparent communication about our goals and challenges, involving them in decision-making processes. We also invest in research and development to innovate sustainable technologies and products that support circular economy principles.

Additionally, we promote corporate social responsibility through sustainability committees and recognize employees who significantly contribute to our sustainability goals. We use social media and our intranet to raise awareness, reaching a broader audience and encouraging active participation in conservation efforts. These strategies help cultivate a culture of sustainability throughout the organization and among our stakeholders.
 
Can you share specific examples of successful partnerships or innovative collaborations Darling Ingredients has formed with other organizations to enhance sustainability and conservation outcomes? 
In 2011, Darling Ingredients partnered with Valero Energy on a 50/50 joint venture—Diamond Green Diesel (DGD). Located in Norco, Louisiana, and Port Arthur, Texas, our partnership utilizes primarily waste fats and oils to produce renewable diesel. The renewable diesel produced at DGD is unique in that, unlike ethanol or biodiesel, it can be seamlessly integrated into preexisting petroleum-based infrastructure and is easily transported by pipeline, rail or truck.  

How does Darling Ingredients quantify investment and return on conservation and sustainability? 
Because sustainability is core to our business, we are focused on continuing to expand our investment in sustainability by expanding the offerings we provide for our customers. We can realize the return on this investment through our company’s financial performance.  As we look to help the world decarbonize and meet global sustainable development goals, we will set lower thresholds for return on investment that account for the benefit of improvements in our environmental performance.

Darling Ingredients employee standing by railcar.

How do you see the future of conservation and sustainability evolving, and what role will Darling Ingredients play in that progress? 
Global population growth, climate change, increased life expectancy and more have put pressure on the natural resources that provide society with food, feed, fuel and general well-being.  Now, more than ever, we need to find viable ways to meet the needs of current and future generations. When it comes to animal agriculture, about 50% of the animal makes it to the dinner plate. The other 50% requires innovative, sustainable solutions to avoid landfills or incineration. That’s where Darling Ingredients comes in. Darling Ingredients is the largest publicly traded company that takes the other 50% of the animal and turns it into valuable ingredients. We create specialty food ingredients that are used to make gelatin capsules for the pills we take, thickeners for the foods we eat, and collagen peptides that help our hair, skin, nails, and ligaments. We sell ingredients to companies that make feed for pets and livestock like swine, cattle, turkeys, and fish. And if it can’t be fed to a human or an animal, we take those materials and make green energy. Where others see waste, we see opportunity.  

What is the one lesson that Darling Ingredients has learned from your conservation and sustainability efforts that others can take back and think about applying within their own space?
Being a leader in the business of circularity for more than 140 years has taught us many lessons. The greatest of which is this: the best way to protect nature is to act like nature. Nature recycles nutrients, and we mimic this by taking animal by-products that have the potential to be treated as waste, and creating valuable ingredients. Looking for opportunities to recreate nature’s circularity to unlock value. 

Why is Texas an important home or base of operations for Darling Ingredients?
Darling Ingredients has made Texas its home because of the state’s culture, location, and business values. Centrally located, it provides regional, domestic, and even international logistical benefits. Darling Ingredients’ employees love living, raising families, and working in Texas. The business environment embraces innovation and technology, and the tax burden is low compared with other states. The regulatory environment is friendly to business, yet still matches the company’s philosophy of environmental stewardship. 

Find out more about Darling Ingredients’ conservation and sustainability efforts here.

Glossary

Scope 1 GHG – Direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions owned or controlled by an organization, e.g. burning fuel in fleet vehicles.
Scope 2 GHG – Indirect Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are the result of an organization’s energy use, e.g. emission generated from the electricity we use in office buildings.
Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) – a corporate climate action organization that provides companies and financial institutions worldwide a guidebook for building a resilient, zero-emissions economy.