At Whole Foods Market, we are strongly commitment to the environment. As a business, we have created and implement a number of innovative practices that establish us as a leader in sustainability in the Greater Philadelphia area. Environmental stewardship is one of our five core values, and we are proudly committed to sustainable excellence. Below, we will highlight just a few of the practices that distinguish us as a sustainable business leader.
In 2006, Whole Foods Market made a landmark purchase of renewable energy credits from wind farms to offset 100% of the electricity used in all its stores, facilities, bake houses, distribution centers, regional offices and national headquarters in North America. This is the largest purchase of wind power credits in the history of the United States and Canada and makes Whole Foods Market the only Fortune 500 Company to purchase wind energy credits to offset 100% of its electricity use.
The Environmental Protection Agency recognized Whole Foods Market with its top honor, the Green Power Partner of the Year award, in 2006. With our record wind power purchase, Whole Foods Market avoided more than 700 million pounds of carbon dioxide pollution in the last year. To have the same impact, more than 60,000 cars would have to be taken off the road or over 90,000 acres of trees would have to be planted. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, this purchase is equivalent to removing more than 4,500 cars from the road with over 31,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable energy credits.
Last spring we partnered with Renewable Choice Energy to encourage customers to follow our lead and purchase wind power credits for their homes. We launched a region-wide promotional campaign and offered $20 and $50 gift cards to every customer who registered to participate in Renewable Choice Energy’s program through Whole Foods Market.
Each of our stores in the Philadelphia area abides by very stringent recycling standards. We focus on corrugated cardboard, plastic wrap/bags, aluminum, glass, plastics, fryer grease and even meat scraps. For example, the Callowhill store recycles an estimated average of 2.9 tons per month in plastics, glass and aluminum. In 2005 both the Philadelphia stores recycled an estimated 52,000 tons of corrugated cardboard and 5,000 tons of plastic bags and shirk wrap.
Regionally we create a reusable tote bag to count down on consumer bag consumption. According to My Own Bag, we use four trillion plastic bags globally every year. Nationally, we use 14 billion plastic bags which require 12 million barrels of oil to produce. Whole Foods Market gave away or sold over 250,000 reusable bags in the Mid-Atlantic region in 2006. Our seasonal tote bags are available in each store for one dollar. This charge is close to the actual cost of the bags, and any proceeds go directly to purchasing more bags. This past holiday season, we sold our reusable bags for a two dollar donation benefiting MANNA. In the Philadelphia area, we raised over $42,000 for their hunger relief efforts.
As a grocer, we inherently produce waste. Whatever food that is not sold and is unfit for charitable organizations must be discarded. In March of 2005, Whole Foods Market Callowhill store in Philadelphia became the first store in the Mid Atlantic region to convert its waste system to separate compostable goods from landfill waste. We created this system to reduce landfill waste and its harmful impact on the environment.
The first challenge raised by this initiative was creating partnerships with local haulers that were able to meet our needs. This necessitated much negotiation between both our previous landfill waste haulers and our new compost haulers.
When the compost program was finally launched, the Callowhill store’s 250 Team Members had to be trained to comply with the new system and learn the ecological and economical benefits of composting organic waste. Team Members were trained on a team to team basis and signage was created for all waste receptacles.
Despite initial challenges, the store successfully implemented the program. After a few months the store was composting enough waste to require its large trash compactor to be converted into a compost compactor.
We send the compost to a brand-new compost facility in Pennsylvania, which provides sustainable employment and production in the Philadelphia area. Whole Foods Market is not only one of the largest providers to the site, we also provide much needed “green” compost waste. This “green” waste is needed to create the ideal environment for waste to breakdown and turn into healthy soil.
In 2006, the Callowhill store diverted an estimated 513.61 tons of compostable waste from going into our regions landfills. The store composted 2.6 times more waste than landfill garbage. Whole Foods Market has thus lessened greenhouse gases and leacheate in our region. Our compostable waste instead becomes a natural resource for the region, providing valuable compost for farmers, recreational parks and gardens.
The program proved to be successful in the Philadelphia store, and soon Whole Foods Market was able to launch the program in five of the seven stores in the area. Beyond the Greater Philadelphia Region, we can facilitate composting in over 25 stores based on the model established in Philadelphia. We have created the standard in the food industry, and we have and are happy to act as a resource for any restaurant, grocer or institution looking to launch a similar program.
Our compost program has shown significant savings for Whole Foods Market. The money saved is dedicated to help further our other environmental initiatives and programs. Composting waste is self funding, and our regional wide goal is to divert 70% of all our waste in 2007, or “70 in ’07” as we like to say.
Along with its wind power credit purchase, recycling, reusable bag campaign and composting, Whole Foods Market also runs its truck fleet on 20% bio-diesel, hosts pods for Philly Car Share and utilizes its vehicles for work purposes. In April 2006, our fundraising efforts for the Pennsylvania Resource Council were recognized by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania naming an official Whole Foods Market Day. We also continue to support local environmental non-profit groups and events.
The practices detailed above are just examples of our passion as a business for supporting sustainability in the Greater Philadelphia area. Whole Foods Market has gone above and beyond what is required, and we have established ourselves as a leader in sustainability. Our commitment is driven not by a desire for financial gain, but by our vision of a sustainable future for our children and grandchildren.
