Daily Dish the Fork Lift blog
Extraordinary Sustainability: Waste Not
Please note that this is an older article. Any products or services pictured or described may have changed or may no longer be available. Thank you for visiting!
One of the ways we engage in sustainability at Nugget Markets is by being seriously committed to social responsibility. In fact, one of our core values is to Respect, Appreciate and Value Everyone (RAVE). This includes taking care of our guests, associates, communities, producers and partners in the waste industry!
One of the ways we engage in sustainability at Nugget Markets is by being seriously committed to social responsibility. In fact, one of our core values is to Respect, Appreciate and Value Everyone (RAVE). This includes taking care of our guests, associates, communities, producers and partners in the waste industry!
Working in the grocery industry, it’s incredibly important to us to keep solid working relationships with our local waste haulers. Having 15 stores in 8 different counties doesn’t make it easy, but we’re dedicated to the vital and collaborative relationships we have developed over the last 93 years.
Here’s the basics of how we break down waste from our stores:
Unsaleable food: We work hyper-locally with the food banks and agencies where our stores are located to donate all food that is unsaleable but still edible. For example, food from our Davis stores is donated to residents in Davis, and food from our Marin County stores goes to ExtraFood Marin to benefit members of the local community. Food that is no longer edible, such as the juice pulp from our coffee and juice bar, is converted into fertilizer and compost. The coolest part is that this fertilizer and compost is used by our farmer partners who grow the produce that ends up back in our stores!
Fun Fact: Historically, we have converted roughly 15.4 million pounds of organic material!
Recycling: We are meticulous when it comes to the cleanliness of our recycling! We have strong communication channels that engage our associates in the dos and don’ts of recycling. We also incentivize our associates to throw items away in the right bins by giving them the opportunity to win money for doing the right thing! In addition, we are immediately responsive to the instructions of our waste haulers. When plastic bags were no longer allowed in single-stream recycling, we worked tirelessly with our teams to comply.
Fun fact: We currently recycle three times the tonnage of what we trash!
Trash: We use compactors to compress trash items that can’t be recycled. This gives us the opportunity to empty our compactors less often. Fewer waste collections reduces the need for an additional truck on the road and thereby decreases potential greenhouse gas production. At one of our locations, we were able to secure pick-ups every three weeks due to our dedication to diverting all recyclable material (plastics, glass, aluminum and food) to the right waste streams.
Fun fact: We currently divert 72% of our waste from the landfill and into recycling!
Learn more about how we put social responsibility and other eco-friendly efforts into practice on our Sustainability Page!
