Albertsons Stores in Las Vegas Reach Environmental Milestone

With Earth Day just around the corner, 30 Albertsons stores located in the greater Las Vegas area, Henderson, and Boulder announced a major environmental milestone: diverting over 90 percent of all store waste from local landfills. Accomplished through an innovate approach to recycling, organic composting and food donations, these stores combined to keep 21,170,340 million pounds of waste out of local landfills and donate 3.5 million meals to local food bank and hunger relief efforts in the past year. “Albertsons ultimate goal is to eliminate waste from store operations and I couldn’t be more proud of the leadership our Las Vegas Albertsons stores have show in this area,” said Sue Klug, president of Albertsons Las Vegas and Southern California division. “Whether it be donating food to families in need or keeping millions of pounds of waste out of local landfills, we have seen how this effort makes a difference in our communities. Aspiring to eliminate landfill waste is a journey we hope our customers will appreciate and also join us in pursuing.” The goal of the Albertsons zero waste program is to eliminate landfill waste from operations, with 90% total waste diversion marking the first milestone in the program.  This effort places a significant emphasis on each store’s ability to maximize total waste reduction and requires a serious commitment from store associates.  Waste Reduction Program Metrics To achieve recognition in SUPERVALU and Albertsons zero waste program, an individual store must divert a minimum of 90 percent of all waste from landfills, and set a goal to continue working toward 100 percent waste reduction. These stores were recently audited by SUPERVALU’s sustainability team and internally certified as having a total landfill diversion rate of over 90 percent. Fresh Rescue Food Donations A key piece of Albertsons waste diversion efforts is its Fresh Rescue Program, which captures fresh items such as meat, dairy and produce that have reached their "sell by" date, but are still edible and safe, and donates them to local nonprofit organizations. In Las Vegas, Albertsons donated to several hunger relief organizations including Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada and Three Square Food Bank.