Safeway has been a major recycler for nearly 50 years and supports the global drive towards Zero Waste business practices. We began recycling cardboard years before other U.S. grocers and pioneered aluminum recycling in the industry. Today, Safeway’s retail and support facilities are part of a comprehensive program to divert solid waste from landfills into recycled products. Each of these programs, carried out at stores and distribution centers, redirects waste from landfills back into our economy. This reduces the cost of waste hauling and disposal and the negative carbon footprint associated with these activities. It also helps municipalities reach mandated reductions in solid waste. In California, where Zero Waste is a goal, each of Safeway’s stores typically diverts over 85% of its materials from landfill disposal – well above the current state-mandated goal of 50%.
In recognition of our material reduction efforts at our stores, distribution centers and corporate headquarters in California, Safeway received the WRAP Award (Waste Reduction Award Program) in 2008 from the California Integrated Waste Management Board. The combined programs diverted a total of 510,938 tons of materials:
• Corrugated Cardboard Recycling: 294,214 tons
• Plastics Recycling: 8,946 tons
• Composting: 94,028 tons
• Food Wastes: 45,501 tons
• Miscellaneous Recycled Materials: 68,249 tons
Our dedication to waste reduction is evident in our commitment to efficient packaging. At Safeway, we are devoted to continuous improvement in packaging design for our products. Consumption of natural resources is at an all time high, and disposal space in landfills is limited. At our manufacturing plants, we look for ways to reduce the amount of packaging and shipping materials used in Safeway-branded products, while ensuring the freshness and quality you’ve come to expect from us.
In 2008, we:
• Reduced the amount of packaging we use on a range of dairy products.
• Reduced freight by making our own water bottles and ice cream containers in our plants versus trucking them from packaging suppliers.
• Increased our use of reusable distribution packaging, such as tote bins for Safeway.com and our distribution centers’ restocking of general merchandise, personal care and liquor items.
• Increased our commitment to reusable bags, which we began providing in 2007. Since that time we have been proud to grow this retail category over 300%. This commitment to the environment and communities where we operate has helped our shoppers keep both plastic bags out of the landfill and reduce the reliance on paper bags, which would have otherwise been used while shopping.
• Reduced the need for virgin plastic in our supply chain. Our reusable grocery bags are 100% recyclable and are manufactured with recycled polypropylene plastic, which helps build the worldwide recycling infrastructure.
• Voluntarily stopped selling baby bottles containing Bisphenol A (BPA) and will continue to monitor alternatives to its use in other products.
Safeway’s commitment to reducing all single-use disposable carryout bags, including paper and plastic, is an important part of our commitment to environmental sustainability. Safeway is one of the first major grocers to offer reusable bags on a large scale. While most reusable bags are neither fashionable nor functional, we designed our reusable bags so that they are both. Safeway offers an array of reusable bags that are fashionable, functional and socially responsible.
Safeway and Shopping Bags – The Facts:
• We recycle millions of plastic shopping bags each year by providing plastic bag recycling bins at stores.
• We distribute fewer paper and plastic bags to our customers thanks to a company-wide initiative and training program to “bag efficiently.”