Content about Waste Management

By Mark J. Rowell, president, Mammoth Media

Supermarkets, apparel chains and other retail outlets need clear signage with messaging that is sharply and professionally printed to draw in customers.

West Bridgewater, Mass. -- Five Shaw’s Supermarkets in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, have reached a major environmental milestone in the company’s “zero waste” program by diverting over 90% of all store waste from local landfills.

The environmental impact of the five stores has been significant:

San Bernardino, Calif. -- West Coast grocery chain Stater Bros. said Wednesday it has been awarded the 2011 Waste Reduction Award – its second consecutive – from the state of California, in recognition for its aggressive focus on recycling.

The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery Waste Reduction Awards Program honored Stater Bros. for eliminating eliminated 125,780,911 lbs. of waste from landfills in 2011. 
 

New York City -- Waste Management and Publix Super Markets announced the opening of the Okeechobee Organics Recycling Facility, which uses advanced aerated composting technology to process food residuals.

The eight-acre facility, located adjacent to Waste Management’s Okeechobee Landfill, utilizes a forced aeration system with computer controls to regulate airflow and air treatment to process pre-consumer food waste from Publix stores -- including produce, bakery and floral items -- with yard waste into organic compost products.

Eden Prairie, Minn. -- Supervalu announced that its ongoing commitment to reducing waste culminated with a milestone in fiscal year 2011, marking the first time recycling revenues exceeded landfill waste expenses. In total, the company reduced garbage expenses by 12.6% over last year’s levels, while also conducting an aggressive cardboard recycling initiative that nearly doubled revenues from the previous year. The end result was the company’s waste and recycling program posted a profit to the company’s bottom line.

Bentonville, Ark. -- A comprehensive waste reduction program has resulted in Walmart eliminating more than 80% of the waste that would go to landfills from its operations in California. Walmart’s results exceed both the national average landfill diversion rate of 45% and the California rate of 65%. The program is now being implemented across all of the company’s 4,400 U.S. locations, including Sam’s Club units and distribution centers.

San Diego -- Target Corp. was ordered by a California judge to pay $22.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that the chain illegally disposed hazardous waste at hundreds of stores throughout the state, prosecutors said Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

The settlement puts Target under tight scrutiny to ensure that it properly disposes waste at its nearly 300 stores in California, the report said.

Orange County, Calif. -- The District at Tustin Legacy, a 1 million-sq.-ft. lifestyle and entertainment center located in Orange County, Calif., has been awarded the 2010 CalRecycle Waste Reduction Award for being a regional leader in recycling and waste reduction. 

San Bernardino, Calif.  -- Stater Bros. has been recognized as a 2010 WRAP (Waste Reduction Awards Program) Winner by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). Among the supermarket operator’s accomplishments: a “green waste” composting program that turns organic waste from its 167 locations into compost that is sold to area farmers

Hartford, Conn. -- Connecticut environmental regulators on Tuesday said that CVS has agreed to pay a nearly $269,000 penalty to settle allegations that the chain's drug stores improperly disposed of photo processing and pharmaceutical wastewater.

The state Department of Environmental Protection announced that dozens of the chain's Connecticut stores this year and last year discharged photo-processing chemicals into onsite septic systems or sanitary sewers without permits.