Specialty food products company is recognized for efforts to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

T. Marzetti Company has received The John Muir Business Conservation Award for 2009. The annual award, presented by The John Muir Association, acknowledges individuals, groups or organizations for their restoration, protection, and conservation efforts.

"T. Marzetti Company is very honored to receive this prestigious award," says company president Bruce Rosa. "Our supply chain initiatives to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions have proven successful in making our company an agent of conservation."

A Columbus, OH, manufacturer and marketer of specialty food products to retail and foodservice markets, T. Marzetti received the award after completing company-wide sustainability efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle that involved:

• Significant investments in wastewater pretreatment
• Reductions in electricity, gas and water consumption
• Reductions in emissions in fleet operations
• Increases in recycling and use of recycled materials

"This truly was a company-wide effort," says Rosa. "Everyone at T. Marzetti Company feels great pride, both in the award and in the achievements it recognizes."

Rosa commended Rod Scott, vice president of logistics and customer support, for leadership in the sustainability drive. The John Muir Conservation Awards are presented annually by The John Muir Association, which supports the National Park Service in making the John Muir National Historic Site a center for education, inspiration, and advocacy of the legacy of John Muir.

Considered America's foremost preservationist and conservationist, John Muir co-founded the Sierra Club in 1892. He also worked with President Theodore Roosevelt to establish the first federal wildlife preserve and is considered the father of the National Park System.