Grocery stores look to cut waste and be more 'green'

The large can of tomato paste is finished, having been used to make marinara sauce for pasta and broth of a soup — food that will be sold in the deli section of a Harmons grocery store.

This time last year, lead chef Gretchen O'Connor and her staff would have tossed the can into a trash bin, and it would have ended up in a landfill.

Not anymore. O'Connor rinses out the can and drops it into a recycling bin. In a day or two, Allied Waste Services will transport the recyclables to Rocky Mountain Recycling on 900 West in Salt Lake City.

For the first quarter of 2009, employees of the Harmons in the Brickyard Plaza, 3270 S. 1300 East, hope to have 20 percent less garbage in the landfills than they produced for the first quarter of 2008.

"Eliminating 20 percent of our waste over last year would (have been) a reduction of over 20 tons that did not end up in the landfill," said Todd Jensen, who works in store development for the 13 Harmons stores that span from Ogden to St. George.

In recent years, customers have expected the businesses they patronize to reduce their impact on the environment. "Ten years ago, we didn't know some of the things we know now," Jensen said. "People are becoming more aware — not just customers but people at this company."

And Harmons, based in West Valley City, is not alone. Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Markets tries to be an industry leader in environmental sustainability initiatives, with at least 70 percent of waste in each store being either composted or recycled. There are four Whole Foods Markets in Utah. Plastic bags were banned in April, leftover food is donated to local food pantries or charities, so-called "Grab & Go" items are in recyclable containers and customers dish up from the salad bar in compostable containers, a company spokeswoman said.

In 2008, 908,580 pounds of plastic was recycled at the 113 Albertsons stores in Utah, Idaho, Montana and Jackson and Rock Springs, Wyo., said Donna Eggers, Albertsons' spokeswoman. The company's owner, Minneapolis-based Supervalu Inc. is part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's voluntary GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership, which requires all stores to have non-ozone-depleting refrigerants in commercial refrigerators in new stores and some remodeled stores.