Stater Bros. Initiates Composting Program

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Stater Bros. Markets here said it plans to roll out a composting program to its 166 stores over the next three weeks — a project to turn organic waste into compost that can be sold to area farmers.

The first "green" load was scheduled to be delivered to the company's distribution center here Wednesday.

Going forward, items such as produce trim and cull, waxed cardboard, wooden crates and paper will be loaded onto pallets and returned via the chain's delivery trucks on a daily basis to the company's distribution center, where the recyclable material will be loaded into a 21-ton compactor and picked up daily by Community Recycling and Resource Recovery and transported to its composting facility.

Stater Bros. said it estimates the composting program will eliminate 20,000 tons from landfill each year, which will eliminate more than 1,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.

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