Page 104 - Retail_Sustainability_Award_09-to-18

RETAIL SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS - WEIS MARKETS
Patti Olenick took Weis’ produce composting pilot in a couple of stores and turned it into a robust, well-run food-composting program, which is now in 64 stores.
wrapping plants, explains the floral department’s Jason.
“Our customers were buying our stock right out,” says Jason, adding, Weis is certified through the U.S. Compost Council standards. While customers praised the composting idea, they often commented that the bags were too large and cumbersome. In response, Weis redesigned the compost bag to be smaller, lighter and easier to put in the cart. “We’ll carry it year-round and it won’t be a seasonal product any longer,” says Olenick.
GREEN LEADERS
Olenick says sustainability initiatives used to be led by the voluntary efforts of a store manager. This past year, Weis created a store process coordinator position, and part of the job description is sustainability practices as well as being a “green leader.”
“Now I have contacts in the stores, which allows better communication and a systematic approach. Internally, consistent sustainability messaging and clear tactical direction helps employees
In 2008, Olenick was brought in as sustainability manager to help develop and facilitate the strategy, establish corpo- rate goals and set baselines for growth.
“I used to work for the Pennsylvania State Department of Environmental Protection,” reveals Olenick. “Weis was doing a produce composting pilot in a couple of stores, and sought my help to get it working.” Which is exactly what she did and turned the pilot into a robust, well- run food-composting program, which is now in 64 stores. Plans are in motion for a chain-wide roll out.
“This year, our goal is to get all the Pennsylvania stores in the program, and then get the Maryland stores on board,” she says. “Many produce departments shy away from composting, or give it up because it is financially or logistically untenable. Composting has to be cost- neutral compared to trash handling in order to rationalize pursuing it,” acknowledges Olenick.
“One of the biggest costs is trans- portation. We have a local compost vendor, who has a farm with stone quar- ries,” she says. In an effort to tie in its composting program to its customers — keeping motion in full circle from the stores and back again — Weis started selling bags of compost through the floral department.
wide waste-management program by recycling floral buckets and plastic film sleeves, as well as using paper for
Floral also participates in the store-
PRODUCE BUSINESS / MAY 2015 / 41