Springfield-based egg washer and packer Vital Farms has been named Food Engineering magazine’s “Sustainable Plant of the Year” award winner for 2023.
Egg Central Station is an 85,000-square foot facility in West Springfield on Alliance Avenue between Division Street and Kearney Street. It houses a 65,000-square foot production plant and 20,000 square feet of office space for Vital Farms. The company washes, packs and ships chicken eggs all over the United States.
Egg Central Station, or ECS as it is known in the industry, has been a zero-food-waste facility since it opened in 2017, and Vital Farms announced plans to be a zero-waste-to-landfill site by the end of 2023.
“The conservation features at ECS are a tangible way to tell the story of how you can be sustainable, a profitable company, and create a good working environment, all while putting out a quality product,” Vital Farms Director of Plant Operations Carl Kicklighter said in a press release.
Food Engineering Editor-in-Chief Derrick Teal noted the company's commitment to the environment beyond the packing plant’s walls.
“This visible commitment to the environment is why ECS was chosen as Food Engineering’s 2023 Sustainable Plant of the Year,” Teal wrote.
Vital Farms processes up to 6 million eggs per day at the Springfield plant. Its environmentally friendly features include solar panels, a top-of-the-line stormwater management system and LED lights, in addition to its waste elimination practices.
Vital Farms works with more than 300 family farms, and distributes eggs and other products in more than 24,000 stores.
The company used the award from Food Engineering to note it is hiring for overnight shift workers in Springfield, with wages starting at $19 per hour. According to the company’s website, benefits include medical, vision, dental and life insurance, a 3-percent 401K match, and free eggs and butter.
