Always be skeptical of corporate sustainability reports (often part PR campaign) but here's a quick list of measures taken by these major grocery retailers to help reduce their environmental impact, according to their corporate websites:
Ralphs (Kroger):
- collected and recycled 9.1 million pounds of plastic grocery bags in 2007
- reduced office paper usage by 455 tons
- diverts leftover food to food banks, composting, and animal rendering plants
- trains grocery baggers to "Strive for Five", or putting at least 5 items in a bag to reduce the number of bags used
- eliminated 68,000 pounds of PVC by switching to smaller, recyclable Eco-Flexx advertising billbaords made of polyethylene
- working to reduce the weight of plastic milk and water bottles, saving an estimated 1.8 million pounds of plastic resin
- reduced overall energy consumption by 22% since 2000, shooting for 30% by 2010, mostly by updating lighting fixtures and refrigerators
- reducing the carbon footprint of shipping fleets by improving insulation, reducing mileage, and training drivers to slow down and reduce idling time, and using and selling fuels that are 85% domestic ethanol/15% gasoline, thus saving an estimated 1 million gallons of diesel fuel over the next three years
Lots of small efforts, like recycling and encouraging behavioral changes, are good, but Kroger has yet to stand up and make big changes. Their sustainability report reads more like a list of things they hope to do, rather than things they've done.
Vons (Safeway):
- buys enough wind energy to power all 300+ of their fuel stations, all stores in San Francisco, CA and Boulder, CO, and their corporate headquarters
- currently developing 20+ solar projects around the country
- 550 trucks in California and 79 in Arizona run on 80% petroleum diesel and 20% biodiesel made from soybean oil grown and manufactured in the U.S.
- designing more efficient buildings, including no-heat freezer doors
- recycled more than 500,000 tons of cardboard and plastic in 2006, thus keeping 85% of their solid waste out of the landfill (the state mandates only 50%)
- first major retailer to register with the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), the only voluntary, legally-binding greenhouse gas emissions allowance trading system in the country
- award winning: 2005 EPA Green Power Purchaser of the Year Award, 2006 City of San Diego Recycler of the Year Award , 2002-2006 WRAP (Waste Reduction Award Program) Awards, and 2007 California Flex Your Power Award for energy efficiency
Big box stores should never be our first choice, but when that's the only choice, I would choose Vons over Ralphs. Flashy moves like wind power and joining the CCX might not always be as effective as lots of smaller changes, but Safeway is sending the right message to other large retailers without being too showy about it.
What are your thoughts??
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