Last month Thrifty Foods celebrated Earth Day by expanding an organic composting program to 23 retail locations.
The new program, together with ongoing Styrofoam and other container recycling programs in store, diverts approximately 95 per cent of waste from local landfills.
“Since launching the new program in August, Thrifty Foods doubled the amount of organic waste collected in participating stores,” said Jim Dores, general manager of Thrifty Foods, in a press release. “In tandem with our existing glass, plastics, metal, Styrofoam, paper and cardboard recycling programs, our teams can compost and recycle the majority of food and paper waste and we celebrate their achievements today.”
The Thrifty Foods compost program collects store-produced organic food waste such as expired yogurt, cheese, meat scraps and bakery goods – as well as paper packaging – and diverts it to local partners like Foundation Organics in Greater Victoria, the ICC Group in Nanaimo and Harvest Power/Fraser Richmond Soil and Fibre in Metro Vancouver.
“At Thrifty Foods, we strive to minimize our impact on the environment and this includes seeking out sustainable farms and producers as well as partnering with vendors that employ sustainable business practices,” said Jerry Wyshnowsky, Thrifty Foods director of energy and environment. “With our three local composting partners, we remain committed to keeping organic waste out of landfills, creating garden-ready black gold in the process.”
Green projects at Thrifty Foods also include energy conservation. Since May 2012, it has implemented 50 energy conservation projects designed to save the equivalent of more than 7.5 million kilowatt hours per year – the energy required to power more than 680 B.C. homes.
Thrifty Foods was founded in 1977 in Victoria. Today, the chain, a banner of Sobeys Inc., has a total of 29 retail grocery stores across the Lower Mainland, throughout Vancouver Island and on Salt Spring Island.
For more, please visit www.thrifty
foods.com.