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much food is being diverted from a landfill, but it’s an initiative through our sustainability platform. However, it was happening organi- cally before the concept of sustainability existed because it was the right thing to do.”
GETTING PRODUCE SUPPLIERS ON BOARD
One of the biggest sustainability chal- lenges in produce is the wax-coated cardboard boxes, according to Dunn. “One of our
produce suppliers came out with a box that’s recyclable. They call it a climate-proof box, and it seems like it is plastic from the outside, but it’s recyclable with your corrugated mate- rials. Instead of a wax coating, it’s a plastic coating that comes off,” she says, adding, “We also have had some successes going with collapsible plastic crates.”
“That’s a good example of a produce area where Suzanne brought the concern to us,”
Wegmans started using IFCO reusable plastic containers to drive reduction, he explains, acknowledging their limitations. “What we learned when we piloted our RPC program was that there were certain SKUs where it just doesn’t work. Some things you do need heavy corrugated boxes. If there’s a category or SKU where an RPC would work well, I think the buyers would move forward with it, but we’ll never sacrifice product freshness or quality just to have it in a more sustainable container,” says Wadsworth.
Grapes have proven a real challenge, according to Dunn. “We’ve tried so many different containers, but it keeps coming back to the same one that is not recyclable. And the same goes for fish. What are you going to pack the fish in with ice that’s practical, other than Styrofoam? You need to take shipping weights into account among other issues. So it’s pretty hard to go to zero waste,” she says.
Such decisions also must factor in the customer when moving to reduce food waste through the supply chain. “We faced customer uproar when we tried to stop corn husking in the store,” says Wadsworth. “Local farmers are going to just use whatever is available to them at a very low cost. And in the summer you get corn with husks and customers do husking in the store. Many stores brought it back in, so now we contend with all the husks,” he says. At the same time, it creates an atmosphere like a farmers market in your store, notes Colleluori.
This is a good example of where Wegmans tried using RPCs but freshness suffered, according to Wadsworth. However, there may be another solution. “Our buyer learned that Rosemont Farms [a division of CH Robinson, based in Minneapolis, MN] was tr ying to pilot an Eco-crate for corn, and made a recommen- dation for us to buy it,” he explains, adding, “It’s this kind of relationship that’s been fostered with the folks in the company to seek sustainable ways to make a difference. Yes, go buy that Eco-crate. It’s not that all corn must come in that box. Let’s try it on a few different growers and we’ll see how it works. And that’s the stage we’re in now,” he says.
The employees have really embraced sustainability. “We thought employees were going to fight us on sustainability measures. It’s more labor, and other excuses,” says Wadsworth. “Where I get traction is on the business side. Once they get a couple of wins under their belt, they feel empowered to do more to the point where you can’t keep up with it,” he says, adding, “That’s a good problem to have.” pb
says Wadswor th.
Almost
six years
ago,
58 PRODUCE BUSINESS • MAY 2013