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Giant reaches green milestone

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CARLISLE, Pa. — Giant Food Stores announced that its supermarket in Cleona, Pa., is the first among its more than 170 stores in four states to achieve zero-waste status, meaning the store has diverted at least 90% of its solid waste away from landfills and ­incinerators.

Giant Food has committed to becoming a zero-waste supermarket operator by 2020.

“It’s been a total store effort, as we set up each department so it’s easy to do the right thing when it comes to lessening our environmental impact,” said Judy Knarr, assistant manager at the Cleona store and the green captain for her district. “We have associates across the store who have embraced our recycling efforts and collectively have changed the store’s culture to achieve this goal.”

Associates in Cleona have incorporated recycling procedures throughout the store and are carefully monitoring what is sent to the trash compactor to guarantee that nothing gets thrown away that might be recycled, the company said. That means making sure no cardboard gets labeled as garbage, diverting food waste and scraps into appropriate bins for organic recycling and collecting plastic bags, plastic film and empty pharmacy pill bottles so they can be returned to Giant’s recycling center, according to a statement from the company, part of Ahold Delhaize USA.

“This labor of love for the planet began in earnest when, in 2012, the company put a spotlight on best practices to reduce waste within stores,” the statement said.

Andrea Doygun, manager of the Cleona Giant store, noted that the store’s customers have a direct stake in the associates’ success in keeping materials out of local landfills and incinerators.

“For example, we clean the empty frosting containers from the bakery as well as corn crates from produce and put them out for our customers to take home and reuse them,” Doygun pointed out. “Every little thing counts.”


ECRM_06-01-22


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