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PROFILE RETAIL SUSTAINABILITY AWARD WAKEFERN/SHOPRITE
DAVID DEETS, director of store development and sustainability, Brown’s Super Stores
About Brown’s Super Stores, Inc.
Brown’s Super Stores, Inc. operates 11 ShopRite supermarkets in the Delaware Valley. Jeff Brown, a fourth generation
Philadelphia grocer, is the founder, presi- dent and chief executive of the company, which employs more than 2,300 associ- ates. Brown and his wife Sandy have been with Wakefern since 1988.
Food Waste Diversion
Brown’s Super Stores is making its mark on sustainability at Wakefern, according to Suzanne Forbes, environmental affairs administrator at Wakefern Food Corp.
Team members at Wood- bridge, NJ, ShopRite composting pineapple.
A large quantity of compost is coming from produce. Depending on the store and operation, other departments contribute as well but produce accounts for the greatest percentage, according to Saker.
“Initially, it’s jumping over the hurdle of teaching and training associates, getting store management all the way down to the line clerks to understand sustainability from the philanthropic benefits to the efficien- cies, and to abide by a system of segregating waste; working with security receivers, ensuring it’s properly handled and recorded. Once they see it is part of a worthy cause, they want to be involved,” he explains.
“We’re also experimenting with food donation programs, collaborating with local food banks for pickups three days a week,” he says. Saker says any type of organic waste, perishable items in the perimeter of the store, various produce and bakery items, foodservice prepared foods, deli, dairy, seafood items, and frozen foods, as they expire and come out of the container, are all part of the pickups.
“It’s good for us as a company. From a financial perspective there’s labor savings and reducing composting expense, and we can be environmentally and socially responsible,” asserts Saker.
“From my own personal experiences when I was still working the produce departments culling the aisle and making sure there was no bruised product, it was always of concern and alarming to me the amount of perfectly edible product with a slight blemish that came off the shelves. There’s tremendous waste filling up land- fills. We have a responsibility to really delve into as many sustainability efforts as possible; not only because it’s philan- thropic, but also because it’s smart business. Sustainability is part of this generation’s consciousness,” he says.
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