US: Supermarkets go green to save money, attract customers

Forget organic food labels and "locally grown" signs.

These days the best indication of a grocery store's commitment to the environment may just be the light bulbs and refrigerators used to power the store.

"The biggest opportunities for grocery stores to be greener have to do with things that shoppers never see, or rarely notice," said Joel Makower, executive editor of GreenBiz.com, a Web site focusing on the greening of mainstream business. "Grocers' biggest operating cost (those things outside the products they sell) is usually labor, but energy costs are second."

Just how are groceries going green?

# Last month, the Massachusetts-based Stop & Shop Supermarkets/Giant Food was named an Energy Star Leader by the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection for scoring near the top in the nation in energy efficiency.

# Last week, New York-based Wegmans Food Markets announced a new purchasing policy for farmed shrimp, developed with the help of a leading environmental organization. The policy is aimed at eliminating antibiotics and chemicals and avoiding damage to sensitive habitats.

# Pathmark Stores Inc., based in New Jersey, is rolling out a new recycling program at it stores, collecting plastic bags to be turned into plastic lumber for benches and decks.

Regulating energy

Makower said two primary issues for stores looking to go green are the two major energy hogs -- refrigeration and lighting.

Wegmans is tackling those issues by replacing all of its light bulbs with more efficient, longer-lasting compact florescent bulbs, and by using the non-toxic sugar-based glycol as a refrigerant in place of Freon.

Jason Wadsworth, Wegmans' sustainability specialist, said the moves make financial sense.

"We're actually finding that a lot of times the environmental and the cost benefits go hand-in-hand," he said. "If you save energy, 9 times out of 10 you're going to save money."

Stop & Shop and the New Jersey-based ShopRite have energy-management systems that regulate energy use during off hours at participating stores. Stop & Shop also uses day-lighting and high-efficiency fan motors in its refrigeration systems.

Pathmark is cutting back on its energy use by generating some of its own. The company has three solar-energy projects in the Garden State and also uses wind-generated power. It was the first supermarket in New York to launch an energy-curtailment policy with the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) program.

"It's cooperating with the power authority. The ISO is like the air-traffic controllers and at peak usage we will voluntarily reduce our use, and you can imagine how much electricity a supermarket runs," said Rich Savner, director of public affairs for Pathmark.

Other options

Makower said stores also can become more green by eliminating transport packaging such as cardboard boxes, shrink wrap and wooden pallets, and replacing it with re-usable totes and containers that are shuttled back and forth between the store and the distribution center.

Karen Meleta, spokeswoman for ShopRite, said her chain has had a plastic-bag recycling program since 1991.

"Last year alone, our customers re-used 5.5 million bags," Meleta said. "We also put in place a year ago a pharmacy pill-bottle recycling program," she said.

The chain also gives customers 2 cents back when they re-use a bag. She said recycled bags and other plastics and cardboards used by the stores are taken to the company's recycling facility in Elizabeth.

Most Central Jersey grocery stores also now sell re-usable bags, typically for 99 cents. The bags are larger and more sturdy than their plastic counterparts. Jeanne Colleluori, spokeswoman for Wegmans, said her stores have sold 600,000 bags. Still, she said changing habits is easier said than done.

"(Customers) are very excited to buy the bags and then they find out that they have to learn how to use the bag and what that entails is remembering to bring the bag when they come to the store," she said.

A hard sell

But Christine Ervin, an assistant secretary of energy in the Clinton administration who now works as a green building consultant and speaker, said convincing businesses to go green can be difficult, too.

"Collectively, the biggest obstacle to growth in green buildings is the perceived premium that you pay for these investments," Ervin said. "And there are some very good studies that looked at green buildings and non-green buildings and found no statistical cost difference between them."

Ervin was the first president and chief executive officer of the United States Green Building Council, which in 2000 introduced a voluntary certification program that designates buildings as "green." The program, known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), has more than 8,000 buildings registered nationwide and more than 1,000 certified as LEED buildings. LEED's retail certification program, still in its pilot stage, has 50 buildings registered.

She said retrofitting buildings to be green can be more tricky than building a new green building, but she said once companies decide to become more energy efficient, it makes sense to take other earth-friendly steps.

"I think the biggest trend right now is you're seeing a merger of the two," Ervin said. "While they're there (improving energy efficiency) it is also prudent to make other changes in terms or reduced water use and reduced chemical use."

But while it seems all supermarkets want to look green, the question of whether customers even care remains an open debate.

"A growing number of consumers are thinking about the environmental impacts of what they buy, and in some cases, where they buy it," Makower said. "However, I doubt many customers are choosing where they shop based on environmental factors of the stores themselves, though they appreciate what retailers are doing to make their operations more environmentally responsible."

But Wadsworth, quoting the recent Hartman Report on Sustainability, a study released by the market research firm the Hartman Group, said he thinks being green does matter to customers.

"When a customer is deciding on a store to purchase an item at, it was interesting that the majority of customers, over 65 percent of mainstream customers, wanted to know that the store provided a safe work environment for the employees," Wadsworth said. "... 64 percent wanted to know that the store was minimizing waste and pollution."

So far, the changes haven't resulted in a significant price increase at the checkout line, according to store officials. Ultimately, Meleta said, the greening of the grocery store might just be the next step in maintaining customers' trust.

"I think consumers are smart and clearly being environmental is important to them," Meleta said. "They trust us, and we support the community."

Source: c-n.com

Publication date: 11/5/2007

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