Plymouth, Mass. — Five additional ShopRite stores have achieved Manomet’s Grocery Stewardship Certification (GSC), which recognizes the company’s commitment to operational best practices that reduce a store’s environmental impact and save resources.
ShopRite stores located in Somers Point, Hammonton, Hillsborough Township, Livingston and Chatham Township, N.J., owned by Village Super Market, Inc., received the special certification. Village Super Markets, Inc. is part of Wakefern Food Corp, the nation’s largest retailer-owned cooperative.
For several years, Manomet’s Grocery Stewardship Certification program has worked with ShopRite to reduce store environmental footprints and save money for customers by implementing more sustainable practices.
“We have learned a lot working with the GSC and have worked hard to get this certification,” says Amanda Fischer, director of business relations for Village Super Market, Inc. “Our associates are really becoming engaged on sustainability practices and making a big difference in each of our participating stores when it comes to reducing our energy use, conserving water and minimizing food waste. By adopting these efficiency measures, we are able to save money and pass along more savings to our customers.”
As a result of their sustainable operating practices, the newly GSC certified ShopRite stores are reducing food waste by 350 tons while conserving more than 650,000 gallons of water annually.
“The team at Village Super Markets is saving money, energy and water and reducing waste through effective sustainability initiatives in place at these stores,” says Peter Cooke, program manager of Manomet’s Grocery Stewardship Certification program. “The corporate staff and store-level employees truly stepped up to make real improvements in the way they operate their business. We are proud of our work with Village Super Markets, ShopRite and Wakefern and look forward to working with them on their sustainability initiatives in coming years.”
Since launching in 2012, the GSC has enrolled more than 700 grocery stores in the United States and Canada. The GSC works with grocers to engage employees on operational sustainability strategies and to review store-level practices and equipment with an eye to increasing energy efficiency, boosting revenue and lowering costs. While there are a number of programs that focus on high performance buildings, Manomet’s GSC program is the only certification program to expand into employee practices and procedures to engage all stores within a chain. To learn more about the Grocery Stewardship Certification program, visit http://grocerycert.org/.
From a small, local cooperative that began with eight grocery store owners, Wakefern Food Corp. has grown into the largest retailer-owned cooperative in the United States. Founded in 1946, the cooperative comprises 50 members who today independently own and operate 343 supermarkets under the ShopRite, The Fresh Grocer, Price Rite and Dearborn Market banners in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Virginia. For more information, visit www.wakefern.com.
Manomet is a nonprofit organization that, through research and collaboration, builds science-based, cooperative solutions to environmental problems. For more information, visit www.manomet.org.
SOURCE: Manomet