Read the full story at Supermarket News.
The Kroger Co. reported big strides in 2020 for its nearly four-year-old Zero Hunger | Zero Waste initiative, which aims to end hunger in communities it serves and eliminate food waste companywide by 2025.
Cincinnati-based Kroger said Tuesday that the company diverted 81% of waste from landfills in 2020, up 1% from 2019. The supermarket giant also cut total trash sent to landfills by 4% versus the previous year.
Read the full story at Waste360.
Clean Earth, a division of Harsco Corporation (NYSE: HSC), recently announced the launch of Fullcircle, a new program that “strategically analyzes waste at each source of generation, then offers solutions for recycling and beneficial reuse alternatives.”
Fullcircle’s goals are to eliminate all waste, recycle as much as possible, and build scalable, innovative programs for customers focused on zero waste.
We wanted to learn more, so we sat down with President David Stanton. Read on for more details.
Read the full story at Biocycle.
A new study from GAIA, Zero Waste And Economic Recovery, finds cities that invest in zero waste programs and policies create good green jobs, in addition to known benefits of reducing pollution and improving community health. “Reuse creates over 200 times as many jobs as landfills and incinerators, recycling creates around 70 times as many jobs, and remanufacturing creates almost 30 times as many jobs,” notes the report, which collected data from a wide range of sources spanning 16 countries.
Read the full post at Treehugger.
These case studies show how clever reuse and upcycling can lead to significantly reduced waste.
Read the full story at Grocery Dive.
In an effort to cut back on the use of disposable plastic bags, Walmart has started a “bagless” pilot in Vermont, according to a blog post on Monday from the retailer.
The pilot started Feb. 15, and Walmart stores in the state are now asking customers to bring their own reusable bags or containers, according to several local media reports. The outcome of the pilot will help guide the company’s future bagless efforts, wrote Jane Ewing, senior vice president of sustainability at Walmart.
The Mexican and Central American Walmart division is also going bagless, and more than 72% of the retailer’s stores in Mexico have already stopped providing plastic bags, Ewing wrote. The bagless efforts come at a time when Walmart and other retailers are continuing to ramp up their sustainability initiatives.
Read the full story at Restaurant Dive.
Just Salad plans to make its reusable bowl program available for off-premise dining, for both takeout and delivery. The initiative is part of the chain’s annual sustainability report, released Monday. Customers who order food online in a reusable bowl can drop their dirty bowl at the participating store for sanitation.
A pilot is currently underway at the Just Salad location in New York City’s Murray Hill neighborhood, offering a “zero-waste” option for customers who order online, according to Nation’s Restaurant News.
Just Salad’s extension of its reusable bowl program to off-premise orders could help it keep costs on to-go containers down —which can cost 85 cents for each takeout package — and strengthen its brand halo, especially if it expands the test to its entire footprint.
Read the full story from the Network for Business Sustainability.
Current approaches to business — and business sustainability — are not working. Tomorrow’s company needs a different business model, focusing not only on profits, but also waste.
Read the full story at Waste360.
Thinking of new strategies and solutions to reduce waste is always top of mind for Hoover who has dedicated her 30-year-career to waste prevention including the last 16 at NRDC.
Kerby, C.; Vriesekoop, F. (2017). “An Overview of the Utilisation of Brewery By-Products as Generated by British Craft Breweries.” Beverages 3(2), 24. https://doi.org/10.3390/beverages3020024 [open access]
Abstract: There is a wide range of information available on by-product disposal methods used by large national breweries. However, little information is available on the methods of by-product disposal used by craft breweries. An investigation was carried out in which 200+ British craft brewers were contacted, of which 90 craft brewers provided basic information about their brewery operations and by-product disposal. Representatives of eleven breweries were interviewed to provide an in-depth case study of their by-product disposal methods. The research found that urban craft brewers use a wider range of disposal methods compared to rural craft brewers; urban brewers dispose of more waste through sewage and landfill, as well as using external companies, such as bio-recycling and anaerobic digester plants, whereas rural brewers have relationships with farmers who dispose of the by-products in various ways. Craft brewers tend to have a direct relationship with the by-product users. Even though they do not have all disposal options available to them which the large industrial breweries have, due to their small scale of by-product production, craft brewers appear to find alternative means of sustainability.
Read the full story at Waste Dive.
The ReThink Disposable program, designed to help restaurants switch to reusables, was a model for Berkeley’s foodware ordinance set to fully take effect this summer.
