While we’re not in it for the awards, we’re thrilled to have a winning Sustainability Program here at Nugget Markets. Certifications and awards help support our best practices and provide benchmarks so we can constantly improve upon them. Our efforts have been recognized in a variety of ways, including with the Sacramento Area Sustainable Business Award, the Partners for a Greener Davis Award and Bay Area Green Business Award. As our company grows, so do our sustainability practices!

This year, we won a couple of exciting awards. For starters, The League of American Bicyclists recognized us as a Bicycle Friendly Business! In addition to bike racks at each of our locations, we partner with local bike organizations to host community-focused rides, participate in May is Bike Month, hold bike workshops and engage with our guests and associates about sustainability. As an added bonus, this award helped us become Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District’s Clean Air Champion of the Month for September.

Most recently, the Business Environmental Resource Council (BERC) named us a Sustainable Business for all 15 of our stores. We were also honored out of a field of more than 100 businesses as the 2019 Sacramento Area Sustainable Business of the Year in Solid Waste Reduction! We’re thrilled to have a 78% diversion rate out of the landfill, which means 78% of material leaving our stores as waste is being recycled back into new products. So far, we have diverted a record 6,000 tons out of the landfill—essentially the weight of 900 Tyrannosaurus Rexes!

We have a myriad different recycling streams in our stores, but a few include cardboard baling, composting our food waste and donating edible food to our local food banks. Diverting waste is a triple sustainability win:

1. When we prevent recyclable products like food waste from entering landfills, we are acting as environmental stewards by reducing greenhouse gas emissions (higher greenhouse gases are emitted when food is trapped in a landfill than when it can biodegrade in a compost pile).
2. We are also acting socially responsible by transforming food waste into compost and fertilizer, and by making sure edible food is getting to our community members in need.
3. Finally, we’re economically viable by saving money on fewer compactor fees.

We’re all winners when we work towards a sustainable future! Find out more on our Sustainability Page.