Nugget Markets is excited to announce that we have been recognized as one of 2020’s most sustainable companies in the world! SEAL Awards, or the Sustainability, Environmental Achievement and Leadership Awards, celebrate businesses for their leadership, transparency and commitment to sustainable business practices. We were 1 of only 16 companies awarded with the SEAL Environmental Initiative Award, and were recognized for the far-reaching impact of our Food Recovery Program!

Our award-winning Food Recovery Program developed organically as the need arose to divert edible food we didn’t sell. Prior to implementing this valuable program, we could only track about ⅓ of our donations. In 2019, we were aware of donating 125,000 pounds of food. Since starting the program and working with partners to report our donation amounts, we have increased the official amount donated to 800,000 pounds of food!

As a local, family-owned business, we have close relationships with our community members, which helps us stay involved on a day-to-day basis. These close connections allow us to assess the needs of the community and provide direct support through both monetary and food donations. Our Food Recovery Program ensures the highest-quality product is donated across all food categories including produce, bakery, deli, dairy, grocery, meat and meat deli. It takes a full-team approach to handle food donations, and everyone does their part to ensure the food is safely handled all the way to donation.

We take great pride in the fact that our Food Recovery Program is hyper-local, benefitting the community members living right in our neighborhoods. At each of our stores, we partner with local food banks to deliver quality food to those in need. Our 16 stores and distribution center span 7 counties, and we safeguard the food donated by each location, ensuring it goes directly to the community members in that specific community.

In some of our hardest hit counties, the pandemic increased hunger by 20%, though numbers also increased for people who made use of the Supplemental Nutrition Program. The global pandemic showed us the importance of people accessing nutritious food in a safe way. A staggering 40% of food is already wasted in the US, so it is important that we continue to take steps to fight that number, including the rising food waste caused by labor shortages and the lack of restaurant market for producers.

Did you know food recovery helps close the loop for energy waste, as well? It’s true! Food recovery helps ensure all the energy it took to grow, harvest, distribute and package the food stays in the system rather than being lost in a landfill. This is important because food waste contributes to the 18% of all US greenhouse gases emitted from landfills. That’s on top of the 13% of all US greenhouse gases that are already emitted from the food system.

Even better, food recovery fulfils all three of Nugget Markets’ sustainability goals: social responsibility, environmental stewardship and economic vitality. By diverting edible food from the landfill to help those in need (social responsibility), we also ensure the viability of our business by reducing unnecessary landfill fees (economic vitality) and prevent the inherent energy of the food from going to waste in the form of greenhouse gases (environmental stewardship). In short, our Food Recovery Program helps our communities, our company and the planet!

As thrilled as we are to receive this award, we couldn’t do it alone. Huge thanks to our nonprofit partners for all the work they do in our communities—it’s our honor to support them and our neighbors in need through our Food Recovery Program!