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RETAIL SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
Produce Business visited middle America’s Heartland, Hy-Vee’s well-es- tablished stomping ground, to present this year’s Retail Sustainability Award, and congratulate the ardent, yet remarkably unpretentious executive team behind the
BRETT BREMSER,
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF PERISHABLES
In 2016, Hy-Vee diverted 17.8 million pounds of food waste from land lls into its vigorous compost program. Arguably more important, the company also diverted 19 million pounds of edible, but unsale- able products, back to the needy.
36 / MAY 2017 / PRODUCE BUSINESS
company’s robust produce-focused enter- prise. Graciously, the team revealed further insights into the inner-workings of the inno- vative programs to sustain and boost the industry, preserve the environment and nurture local communities.
We explored smart store operations and harmonizing produce department schemes, and we followed the varied paths of the chain’s multi-pronged food waste diversion program full circle. Epitomizing the concept of 360-degree sustainability, we traversed the sprawling state’s agricultural landscape, leading us from Hy-Vee’s Waukee, IA, store,
where produce department employees were culling product, to Eddyville, IA, home to GreenRU, one of Hy-Vee’s important partners in sustainability and the largest industrial composting facility in the United States.
Wearing hardhats and goggles, we trekked out with Hy-Vee and GreenRU executives to get a rst-hand education, watching Hy-Vee’s produce waste being composted and bagged for delivery back to the stores to be sold in the lawn and garden department.
In 2016, Hy-Vee diverted 17.8 million