“Think globally, act locally.”
Scottish planner and conservationist Patrick Geddes, 1915

While preserving the health of the planet depends on people all over the globe, the actions taken in each community to make the Earth more sustainable and livable help to make a world of difference.

Strack & Van Til understands just how important it is to save our planet and make it a better place for the next generation. Just in time for Earth Day, on Friday, April 22, the grocer is happy to announce that it’s crushing its sustainability goals.

As a trailblazer in the grocery industry, Strack & Van Til has been conserving energy, reducing waste, recycling and promoting sustainability since 2014.

“A big part of our success is the contribution made by our ‘Indiana Made’ store Green Teams. We established the Green Team program in 2014 and meet every three months to share success stories, track our results and continue our education,” says Don Erminger, Strack & Van Til director of facilities and operations. “The Green Teams are led by our store associates to steward best practices in energy, waste and water conservation across all our stores’ staff and departments.”

Erminger notes that Strack & Van Til is committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from energy and waste by 40% by 2023. To achieve this goal, the grocery chain has taken the following steps toward sustainability and good stewardship:

• Reduced GHG emissions from electricity by 41% since 2014. This is equivalent to GHG emissions of 3,640 cars driven or the energy use of 2,015 homes for one year.
• Cut GHG emissions from natural gas by 13% since 2014. This is comparable to the GHG emissions of 194 cars driven or 107 homes heated for one year.
• Overall, since 2014, Strack & Van Til has reduced its GHG emissions from total energy use by 37%, which is equal to one year of GHG emissions from 3,834 cars driven or the energy use of 2,122 homes.

Recycling is also an integral part of Strack & Van Til’s environmental initiative.

“Since late 2017, we are now diverting 26% more of our trash from landfills,” explains Erminger. “This is equal to 1,414 metric tons of greenhouse gas eliminated, of which 1,256 metric tons of greenhouse gas equivalents are from our organic diversion program.”

Highlights include the program to recycle organic waste from produce and dairy, which began in 2018. In 2021, the grocer recycled 5,035 tons of cardboard and diverted 191 tons of waste for reuse by local farmers through the Farm to Table Division Program.

The final piece of the sustainability puzzle is water conservation. Since 2018, Strack & Van Til has reduced water use by 11%, the amount needed to fill 5.7 Olympic-size swimming pools.

Good planets are hard to find, and ours is the only Earth we’ve got. Join Strack & Van Til in helping to ensure the sustainability of our environment for the future.

Happy Earth Day from Strack & Van Til.