Quincy, Massachusetts-based Stop & Shop is celebrating the five-year anniversary of its Green Energy Facility – and significant reductions in CO2 emissions as a result. The Green Energy Facility, which houses an anaerobic digestor, converts inedible food items that cannot be sold or donated into energy that helps to power the company’s Freetown distribution center.
Stop & Shop is the only retailer operating and fueling its own anaerobic digestor on the East Coast.
The digester recreates the naturally occurring process of anaerobic digestion. Carbon in food material is converted into a biogas and is then used as a power source. To date, the digester has processed more than 130,000 tons of inedible food and generated 25,800 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity, which is enough to power 3,321 homes for one year. It has also reduced CO2 emissions by 28,700 metric tons, the equivalent of gas emissions from 6,200 passenger vehicles driven for one year.
The energy created at the facility also generates up to 40 percent of Stop & Shop’s Freetown, Massachusetts distribution center’s energy needs – which is a 1 million square foot facility – the equivalent of powering the facility for four months out of the year.
“Stop & Shop has set robust sustainability goals to ensure we’re making a measurable impact in terms of reducing our environmental footprint,” said Gordon Reid, president. “We’re committed to taking bold climate action and to eliminating waste, and the Green Energy Facility is a key part of those efforts. We’re proud to celebrate five years – and to be leading the way among grocery retailers.”
Stop & Shop has other measures in place to reduce emissions across the Northeast, including the following:
- Stop & Shop recycles enough cardboard to save more than 1.8 million trees annually;
- Through its recycling programs, Stop & Shop diverts approximately 75 percent of waste from going to landfills or incineration, and recycles more than 350 million pounds of material a year including plastics, cardboard and food waste;
- Stop & Shop stores utilize automatic motion sensors and reflective roofs that reduce heat absorption during the summer, and systems that curb electric power during peak demand times; and
- For every gallon of gas sold at S&S fuel locations, up to 30 percent of the emissions for those gallons are offset through investments in carbon reduction projects.
For more information about Stop & Shop’s commitment to sustainability, click here.
