Kroger’s Recycling Program Hits Milestone
The Kroger Co.'s recycling program has reached a major milestone, recycling more than 1 million pieces of Our Brands flexible-plastic product packaging since the program began in 2020.
In collaboration with Trenton, N.J.-based TerraCycle, Kroger provides customers with free, prepaid shipping labels to mail in flexible plastic Our Brands packaging for recycling. The list of eligible products can be viewed at Kroger.com. The recycled materials are used to construct playgrounds donated by Kroger to youth and community organizations.
To further advance sustainability, the retailer is also working toward its Zero Hunger | Zero Waste mission by expanding its product selection containing upcycled ingredients with the addition of Seeded Multigrain Bread and Multigrain Quinoa Bread to the Simple Truth sustainable lineup, both Upcycled Certified by the Denver-based Upcycled Food Association (UFA). The designed-from-scratch bread features a blend of upcycled barley, wheat and rye grains, with each variety topped by ingredients like sunflower, flax, black sesame, pumpkin seeds and quinoa.
The UFA, joined by Kroger in 2022, is the first-of-its-kind trade association working to prevent food waste by accelerating the upcycled food economy. UFA is a network of more than 225 businesses from around the world collaborating to empower consumers to prevent food waste with the products they purchase.
Other Simple Truth Upcycled Certified products include Plant-Based Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix, Plant-Based Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix, Plant-Based Sugar Cookie Mix, and Gluten Free Banana Bread Mix made with upcycled okara flour.
"We are continually looking for creative and innovative solutions to support our vision of creating zero-waste communities," said Juan De Paoli, VP of Our Brands for Kroger. "Our customers sharing in that commitment by recycling packaging and purchasing products made with upcycled ingredients, alongside our efforts to advance sustainability, makes important progress toward eliminating waste and creating healthy, thriving communities."
Cincinnati-based Kroger has almost 2,800 retail food stores under a variety of banner names. The company is No. 4 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
