Longo’s 1st Ontario Grocery Chain to Offer Battery Recycling at All Stores
Canadian grocer Longo’s and Call2Recycle have teamed to offer Longo’s customers convenient battery recycling at the chain’s 37 Toronto-area stores. With this partnership, Longo’s has become the first grocery chain in the province of Ontario to provide this program, which enables customers to return end-of-life batteries to the nearest Longo’s store.
“At Longo’s, we are committed to minimizing our overall impact on the environment and do everything we can to ensure we fuel happier and healthier lives,” said Longo’s President Deb Craven. “Our partnership with Call2Recycle reinforces our commitment to environmental stewardship, one of our three Sustainability Pillars. The battery-recycling program provides a significant opportunity for ourselves and our guests to divert waste and lessen our impact on the environment.”
[Read more: “How Longo’s Leads With Local”]
“Call2Recycle is excited to begin this collaboration with Longo’s as part of our efforts to make it easier and more convenient for Canadians to recycle batteries,” noted Joe Zenobio, president of Toronto-based Call2Recycle Canada, which, since its inception in 1997, has diverted more than 40 million kilograms of batteries from Canadian landfills. “Through this partnership with a leading like-minded organization, we continue taking a leading role in the province to expand battery-recycling diversion and educate Ontarians about safe recycling practices in a manner that is approachable and accessible. We are pleased to partner with the Longo’s team and give Ontarians the opportunity to drop batteries off on their next shopping trip and protect the environment effortlessly.”
Longo’s has joined Call2Recycle’s network of more than 2,600 convenient battery collection sites in the province, with the aim of encouraging Ontarians to adopt eco-friendly habits by making battery recycling part of their regular shopping routine. Collected batteries will be sent for processing, where such valuable materials as metal alloys are retrieved and used to make new products like silverware, bicycles and golf clubs, contributing to a circular economy.
Family-operated Longo’s has 37 stores in communities across Toronto and the greater Toronto area, and employs more than 5,000 team members across the province of Ontario. Its parent company, Stellarton, Nova Scotia-based Empire also owns Sobeys Inc. With approximately CAD $30.5 billion in annual sales and CAD $16.5 billion in assets, Empire and its subsidiaries, franchisees and affiliates employ approximately 131,000 people. The company is No. 19 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
