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RETAIL SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
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 unsaleable products, back to the needy. Hy-Vee was awarded the Governor’s Iowa Environmental Excellence Award in the Waste Management category for its food waste diversion efforts. This premier environmental honor in Iowa
38 / MAY 2017 / PRODUCE BUSINESS
recognizes leadership, innovation and education in the protection of the state’s water, land and air.
While always holding the moral high ground in sustainability as an admirable goal, Hensley says he has no illusions. Hy-Vee is operating a business and in the end must consider whether a program is pro table, or at least able to achieve a
break-even point to be economically viable. Fortunately, many sustainability projects help the environment while cutting costs and bettering the bottom line. Hensley says he is closely watching developments in promising alternative food waste diversion technologies. “We think they’ve got legs, but we haven’t jumped on them yet because they’re not very cost-effective today.”


































































































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