After reducing and recycling waste, Hillcrest location given first national business environmental honor

By Anthony King | SDUN Editor

The Whole Foods Market Hillcrest store received a certification plaque from the San Diego-based United States Zero Waste Business Council at a ceremony held March 7.

Zero Waste Council founder and Executive Director Stephanie Barger presented Whole Foods Market Marketing Supervisor Ray Kau with the honor, highlighting ways the retail store was making strides to reduce their carbon footprint.

“They have diverted over 90 percent of their waste from landfill, incineration and the environment by reducing, reusing and recycling,” Barger said, calling the store a leader in the region.

The store received the bronze level requirement for the Zero Waste certification, and is now eligible to pursue the platinum, or top level.

“We are thrilled to launch the new certification program and to verify the achievements of Whole Foods Market,” Barger said in a press release. “Our goal is not only to provide credibility to Zero Waste businesses, but also to offer the resources needed to create value and save money.”

The Zero Waste Business Council was formed in 2012 to “educate, inform and document” businesses in environmental best practices that support a healthy and sustainable community. “Implementing Zero Waste will eliminate all discharges to land, water or air that are a threat to planetary, human animal or planet health,” representatives said.

Renee Robertson of the San Diego Environmental Service Department and Nancy Moors, publisher of hillquest.com, were also on hand at the ceremony to show their support.

“We see this as a journey and we still have a ways to go,” Kau said. “We’re off to a good start, and with your help we’ll make it.”

The presentation comes at the end of several months of construction at the store, which Kau said would be complete within the week. The renovation is the largest in the location’s 16-year history. Kau said they remained focused on zero-waste practices during the entire renovation.

Whole Foods Market was the first to receive the Zero Waste award, helping to launch the Zero Waste business certification program nationwide. The goal of the program is to encourage and reward businesses to “divert all end-use material” from landfills. The standards are set by the Zero Waste International Alliance.

The Zero Waste Council also offers businesses guidance and tools to help achieve the environmental goals, and Barger said the nonprofit organizes workshops and peer-to-peer networking for them to share ideas in reducing waste.

“We really try to get out and work with our partners … to really try to mobilize the effort and break down the barriers,” she said. “Our goal is to have all businesses and communities get to zero waste.”

Three Whole Foods Market stores in the area, including the Hillcrest location, received the new certifications after excelling in six key areas:

• Committing to zero waste with over 90 percent diversion,

• Utilizing locally grown, organic food including donating excess to organizations in need,

• Re-sorting trash, recycle and compost bins by team members,

• Separating recyclable materials,

• Purchasing materials with a high-recycle content and

• Encouraging customers to bring renewable bags.

“Whole Foods Market is proud to receive the U.S. Zero Waste Business Council’s first Zero Waste certification,” Dave Sanders, Whole Foods Market La Jolla team leader, said in the release. “We are proud to partner with [the Zero Waste Council] and help to further its work helping communities become more healthy and sustainable, a value which our company fully supports and is passionate about.”

Part of the chain’s success, both Kau and Barger said, occurred in the last focus area, where team members were active in promoting customer involvement.

“Whole Foods has a lot more engagement with their customers,” Barger said. “Here it’s very embraced.”

Kau agreed. “I think they’re really aware of what we’re doing. … They support it,” he said.

For more information on the Zero Waste Council visit uszwbc.org.