5 ShopRite Stores Earn Grocery Stewardship Certification

Five ShopRite locations operated by Springfield, N.J.-based Village Super Market Inc. have received Manomet’s Grocery Stewardship Certification (GSC) in recognition of their commitment to operational best practices that lower a store’s environmental impact and save resources. The newly certified stores, in Somers Point, Hammonton, Hillsborough Township, Livingston and Chatham Township, N.J., are reducing food waste by 350 tons while conserving more than 650,000 gallons of water annually.

“We have learned a lot working with the GSC and have worked hard to get this certification,” said Amanda Fischer, Village Super Market’s director of business relations. “Our associates are really becoming engaged on sustainability practices and making a big difference in each of our participating stores when it comes to reducing our energy use, conserving water and minimizing food waste. By adopting these efficiency measures, we are able to save money and pass along more savings to our customers.”

“The team at Village Super Market is saving money, energy and water and reducing waste through effective sustainability initiatives in place at these stores,” noted Peter Cooke, GSC program manager at Manomet, a Plymouth, Mass.-based nonprofit organization. “The corporate staff and store-level employees truly stepped up to make real improvements in the way they operate their business. We are proud of our work with Village Super Markets, ShopRite and Wakefern and look forward to working with them on their sustainability initiatives in coming years.”

Since it began in 2012, the GSC has enrolled more than 700 grocery stores in the United States and Canada. The program works with grocers to engage employees on operational sustainability strategies and to review store-level practices and equipment with an eye to boosting energy efficiency and revenue and reducing costs. The GSC is so far the only certification program to address employee practices and procedures to engage all stores within a chain.

For several years, the program has worked with the ShopRite banner to reduce store environmental footprints and save money for customers by introducing more sustainable practices. Other retailers to adopt the program include Giant Eagle, Hannaford, Safeway and Weis Markets.

Village Super Market, which operates a total of 29 ShopRite supermarkets in northern, central and southern New Jersey; Maryland; and Pennsylvania, is part of Keasbey, N.J.-based Wakefern Food Corp, the nation’s largest retailer-owned cooperative. Wakefern comprises 50 members that independently own and operate 343 supermarkets, mostly under the ShopRite banner, in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Virginia.