Albertsons Cos., Boise, Idaho, released its 2018 Sustainability Update, highlighting successes in reducing waste, expanding organic offerings, leading in seafood sustainability and more.
“Our employee promise is to ‘Make Every Day a Better Day,’” says Jim Donald, president and CEO. “That means being a good community partner and a committed steward of the environment. We take that obligation seriously because our company is growing and innovating at lightning speed. And, when we move forward, we leave a trail behind.”
The report highlights progress across four platforms of sustainability—product, community, planet and people. Among some of the progress and accomplishments across the company’s banners include:
- Surpassed $1 billion in sales for the O Organics line of USDA-certified organic products.
- Donated more than $250 million in food donations to local food banks
- Raised and distributed $44.6 million to support causes that impact customers’ lives, including wildfire and hurricane disaster relief, veterans’ charities, childhood hunger and cancer research and treatment.
- Named an EPA Green Power Partner for the fourth consecutive year for procuring and using renewable energy.
In conjunction, the company announced plans to purchase 10 all-electric Tesla tractors to service Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions stores in Southern California. The vehicles are part of the company’s ongoing efforts to decrease carbon emissions and run a cleaner transportation program. The trucks will travel 300-500 miles on a single charge, even with a fully loaded trailer, and use less than 2 kilowatt hours of energy per mile.
“Advancing supply chain efficiency and sustainability is an important goal for our company,” says Tom Nartker, vice president of transportation. “We’re excited to pilot this expansion of our transportation program with trucks that help us limit our overall carbon footprint.”
The electric semis expand Albertsons’ commitment to running a safe, sustainable fleet to service its 2,300 stores nationwide. As a partner and supporter of the Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay transportation program, the company actively promotes SmartWay certification to improve freight efficiency and environmental performance. The company’s entire 1,400-plus truck fleet is SmartWay certified, as are 92% of trucks operated by third-party carriers.
