ShopRite Honors Earth Month

ShopRite remains committed to working with its communities to ensure eco-friendly practices, and the Keasbey, N.J.-based retailer co-op is using April, Earth Month, to highlight its sustainable business practices.

ShopRite stores are passionate about reducing energy use, diverting food waste and sourcing products from environmentally responsible suppliers, manufacturers and farmers, the company said. The stores also partner with customers to help recycle waste, donate unsalable food to food banks and pantries, clean up area parks or beaches and encourage reuse of shopping bags at checkout.

The ShopRite Earth Day Challenge is an annual event that challenges consumers to beautify their communities by cleaning up litter and restoring local parks or beaches. Earth Day Challenges will take place this year on Earth Day, April 22 as well as throughout the year. Last year, 6,000 volunteers helped to clean up 63 communities in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Starting this month, the How2Recycle label will now be printed on ShopRite paper and plastic bags. This label was designed to help remind customers to recycle or reuse their bags. To help encourage recycling, ShopRite stores provide recycling bins at the front of every store for any flexible plastic packaging, including produce bags, bread bags and case wraps.

ShopRite’s sustainability practices continue year-round, and the Bag ReUse program, which encourages customers to recycle bags or use reusable bags, has diverted about 380 million bags from landfills to date. The ShopRite recycling center in Elizabeth, N.J., has recycled more than 1.8 million tons of plastic bags, shrink wrap and corrugated cardboard.