Price Chopper Recognized for Sustainability
Price Chopper has been chosen by GXT Green to be included in the 2012 GXT Earth Day Honor Roll for the Northeast regional grocer’s dedication to green building and environmental initiatives.
“Price Chopper has shown tremendous leadership in sustainability, including Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications, and an innovative natural gas fuel cell that provides 60 percent of the electric energy for its … Colonie, N.Y., store,” said Billerica, Mass.-based GXT, a division of Global Exchange Technologies, which helps the corporate community understand and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through verified, high-value and high-volume carbon offset projects such as rain forest preservation or reforestation. “They have made a public commitment to a sustainable seafood supply in their chain. They continue to commit to more sustainable stores, products, and packaging for their products, which ensures that they minimize their impact on our environment.”
Noted Bill Sweet, VP of engineering and construction at the Schenectady, N.Y.-based grocer: “Price Chopper is committed to reducing energy usage and carbon impacts and investing in sustainable and renewable technologies. Our shoppers will see displays and kiosks throughout the stores that explain what they are looking at and what we have done to conserve utilities and save energy. We hope that some of these green initiatives and the demonstrated results will inspire individuals to change their own behaviors.”
Price Chopper’s additional environmentally sustainable initiatives include recycling more than 75 percent of construction waste on all new ground-up construction projects; employing natural lighting throughout the store to reduce electrical consumption, using building materials throughout the store with a high degree of recycled content; obtaining (where available) local construction materials to minimize environmental impacts from transportation; installing state-of-the-art refrigeration equipment to minimize ozone-depleting refrigerant charges; recovering heat from the refrigeration system and reusing it for space heating and hot-water production for use at store level; recycling waste produce from trimming at select stores through a hydrator process that reduces the produce to “gray water”; and implementing high-efficiency lighting systems throughout stores and in exterior signage
The company currently has 10 registered supermarket projects awaiting certification by the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED program. Two locations have already received Silver-level certification, one s has received Gold-level certification, and the retailer’s corporate headquarters is expected to receive Gold-level certification.
The Golub Corp. owns and operates 128 Price Chopper grocery stores in New York, Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Golub’s 23,000 associates collectively own 52 percent of the company’s privately held stock, making it one of the nation’s largest privately held corporations that is predominantly employee-owned.