At The Toro Company (TTC), sustainability is deeply rooted in our purpose of enriching the beauty, productivity, and sustainability of the land. It is the foundation of our strategic priorities and affects every facet of our business. Our innovative lineup of products and solutions helps customers meet the demands of their jobs, while providing the power, productivity, and precision they expect.
In 1914, TTC was founded in Minnesota, USA, with a focus on providing engines for the Bull Tractor Company. Following its success, TTC expanded to include turf and landscape maintenance equipment. By the mid-20th century, TTC ventured into turf irrigation for golf courses and green spaces. As water conservation became a growing concern for stakeholders both inside and outside the company, TTC strategically acquired James Hardie Irrigation in 1996 to expand its role in sustainable irrigation to the world of agriculture.
Now known as Toro Ag (a division of TTC), we are recognized as an industry leader in sustainable and efficient irrigation and water and fertilizer management. Our comprehensive solutions to water stress have gained recognition internationally, and we continue to provide a broad network of farmers with the resources to meet the growing demands in production while improving the efficacy of their systems.
To this day, Toro Ag exemplifies TTC’s commitment by providing our growers with solutions that increase agricultural systems’ productivity and long-term viability.
Sustainability plays an integral role in determining and executing on our strategic priorities. We are committed to our purpose of helping our customers enrich the beauty, productivity and sustainability of the land. Sustainability is at the heart of how we innovate and is ingrained in our culture of investing in our people, serving our customers, and giving back to local communities. Our longstanding commitment to quality, innovation and relationships is critical to our leading market success. We are dedicated to developing new solutions and improving our existing product portfolio’s performance, efficiency, and sustainability.
Toro Ag Initiative
Manufacturing with Post-Ag Resin (PAR)
Drip tape lives in the soil for months at a time and is at the constant mercy of all adverse weather conditions. While Toro tape efficiently irrigates your field without clogging, it is also getting dirty. Therefore, when the tape is collected from the field, dirt, and soil residuals can make up nearly 20-40% of the used tape’s total weight. To recycle and reuse the drip tape material, about 99% of these dirt and soil particles need to be cleaned off the product or the contaminants can cause defects to the new product.
Toro Ag is committed to the integrity of our products, but we also feel responsible for ensuring our tape products are responsibly managed at the end of their life. To accomplish this goal, in partnership with several different drip tape recycling facilities across the United States, we at Toro Ag are exhaustively working to clean and recycle drip tape to put the material (known as PAR) back into new Toro Ag products. We saw resounding success in fiscal year 2023 and used around ~1 million pounds of PAR material across our three manufacturing facilities. In fiscal year 2024, we aim to double our use of PAR. We aim to accomplish this goal through innovative recycling partners working to create the cleanest and highest quality material coupled with cutting-edge engineering processes to get the material back into production at the highest possible concentration.
Drip Tape Collection Options
Reusing the material is only one part of the complicated drip tape recycling equation, so beyond just putting the material back into a new product, we look forward to extending our product stewardship to offering collection options for the material once it is pulled from the field. In partnership with six different collection companies on the West Coast, you may be able to divert your drip tape from the landfill and provide the material with a second life. We can certify that your drip tape material was diverted from conventional waste streams for all those eligible.
While we work to enhance our closed-loop drip tape program, your material can still support Toro Ag and other industries looking to reduce their environmental footprint by using recycled plastic instead of crude oil-derived virgin plastic.
If you have any questions about our pilot collection program and live on the West Coast of the United States, please get in touch with your local Toro Ag Sales Manager or email the Recycling Team at RecyclingAg@toro.com.
Closed Loop Production
Toro Ag manufactures tape and hose products in El Paso, TX; El Cajon, CA; and Sanford, FL. In all manufacturing facilities, scrap material is inevitable for various reasons. However, we are committed to using the materials that come through our doors in one way or another, so at all three of our facilities, we have high-tech shredding and re-pelletizing machines to turn our production scrap into a reusable pellet. We estimate that through our internal scrap recycling efforts, we divert around 90% of scrap material from the landfill and put it back into new drip tape, dripline, and hose products. Further, most of the material that is too wet, dirty, or damaged to be internally recycled is sent to an external recycler in partnership with our waste management provider. Only a fraction of our production scrap is sent to a landfill. Our lean management team continuously iterates on manufacturing design and factory operations to further minimize the scrap material at all facilities, aiming to achieve an even more significant reduction in scrap.
Waste Diversion and Composting
No matter how big, small, efficient, or messy you are, waste is an inevitability in life. At Toro Ag, we are no exception. As a large company with hundreds of employees in the Toro Ag division alone, we produce loads of weekly waste across our facilities. Therefore, at our manufacturing facility and office in El Cajon, CA, we have implemented a comprehensive mixed recycling and organic composting program to reduce our overall waste creation and make a positive environmental impact. In cooperation with our waste management provider, we have increased our recycling rate by ~43% since the end of fiscal year 2023. As the new fiscal year progresses, we are actively working to expand these programs to our manufacturing facilities and distribution centers all over the United States. By the end of fiscal year 2024 we plan to have recycling and composting programs in place everywhere at Toro Ag, while we work to achieve a >75% waste diversion rate across Toro Ag facilities.
