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Environmental Stewardship
We’re always looking for ways to do more for our planet — because we believe it’s worth it for our customers, team members and suppliers. Whether it’s diverting food waste from landfills or making our stores more energy efficient, learn how we’re promoting environmental stewardship to make our earth happier for the future.
Fighting Food Waste
Whole Foods Market has a food waste strategy to prevent and divert food from entering landfill, mirroring the EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy. Whole Foods Market Team Members are trained on food waste efficiency, from smart ordering to food donation. Whole Foods Market annually donates thousands of meal’s worth of perishable and non-perishable food to local food banks and food rescue agencies across the London. All Whole Foods Market stores participate in food waste diversion and recycling programs, such as composting, anaerobic digestion to create renewable energy, and animal feed programs. Whole Foods Market is continually assessing emerging technologies and new opportunities to further increase our landfill diversion and recycling rates.
A number of our individual stores support community programs focused on environmental causes. In addition, team members often participate in local clean-ups and volunteer their time to non-profits.
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
Each of our stores, facilities and offices do things a little differently. Here are examples of earth-friendly efforts we practice in some or all:
Printing and packaging using recycled paper and water- or vegetable-based
Composting to decrease landfill waste
No single-use plastic bags at checkout since 2008
100% post-consumer recycled-content paper bags
Reusable grocery bags at affordable prices
Reusable dishes and flatware in our dining areas
Reclaimed wood, bricks and other materials in construction
Recycling cardboard, paperboard, paper, glass, plastic and metal
Collection bins for batteries and corks