San Bernardino, California, 2016-Jul-14 — /EPR Retail News/ — For over 80 years, Stater Bros. Markets has remained committed to giving back to the communities it serves and is furthering its commitment to those valued communities by voluntarily reducing lighting energy use by 50% in all 168 Stater Bros. supermarket locations during summer months.
This reduction will decrease electricity use by 425,000 kWh per month, which is the equivalent of powering 470 homes per month and also reduces the possibility of rotating outages during the summer.
“Every day during summer months, all 168 Stater Bros. supermarket locations will voluntarily reduce lighting energy use by 50%, from 12 noon to 6 p.m.” stated Pete Van Helden, President and CEO of Stater Bros. Markets. “Energy use peaks during this time and our energy reduction efforts underscore Stater Bros.’ ongoing commitment to the environment, community and our employees,” Van Helden concluded.
Other environmentally friendly efforts at Stater Bros. include:
- Closed-door cases and LED lighting reducing energy by 60% per refrigerated case in 85% of our supermarkets, working towards implementation in all supermarkets by 2018.
- LED lighting for refrigerated cases in all stores and LED lighting for sales floor in remodels and new stores
- Energy Management Systems in all stores that control energy usage and demand
- “Green Waste” program removed over 34 million pounds of waste to help produce biofuel, animal feed and compost for agriculture
- Recycling cardboard – over 73 million pounds
- Recycling plastic bags – over 2.5 million pounds
- Meat rendering and grease – recycled over 9.5 million pounds to help produce products that are used in agriculture, oleo chemical and biofuels industry
- Recycling Centers inside each supermarket for customers to recycle paper and plastic grocery bags
- Printing the company’s weekly ad on recycled paper
- Donations to local food banks (over 3 million pounds per year)
In addition, Stater Bros. Markets has received the “Best Emissions Rate” Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) GreenChill Partnership for having the lowest corporate-wide refrigerant emissions rate of all the GreenChill partners. The company is also the only grocer to have seven stores in California that have received the EPA GreenChill Gold Level certification.
“Stater Bros. has always believed in doing the right thing for the right reason and expanding our environmentally friendly business practices is simply the right thing to do,” stated Jack H. Brown, Executive Chairman of Stater Bros. Markets. “As we celebrate 80 years of serving Southern California Families, we want to ensure that we are doing our part so that the values and legacy of our founders, Leo and Cleo Stater will be enjoyed for many generations to come,” Brown continued.
Stater Bros. was founded in 1936 in Yucaipa, California, and has grown steadily through the years to become the largest privately owned Supermarket Chain in Southern California and the largest private employer in both San Bernardino County and Riverside County. The Company currently operates 168 Supermarkets, and there are approximately 18,000 members of the Stater Bros. Supermarket Family. For more information, visit staterbros.com.
Press contact:
publicrelations@staterbros.com
Source: Stater Bros