Loblaw Companies has diverted nearly 86 million pounds of potential food waste from landfill over the past five years.Supplied
Nothing makes her more committed to her work at Loblaw Companies Ltd., says Leamington, Ont., Real Canadian Superstore manager Tonya Ridley, than the part she and her colleagues play in meeting the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.
“We focus daily on awareness and educating our consumers and each other,” Ridley says. “We have so many programs at the store level, such as repurposing products like bread loaves into bread crumbs or hot deli chicken into sandwiches, and the Flashfood app which consumers can use to buy discounted, near-expiry food – that one is actually my favourite. Then there’s our donations to local food charities that feed hundreds of people weekly in our community.”
These initiatives – corporate priorities which rely on store-level colleagues to execute – have steadily expanded over the years, continues Ridley, a 28-year veteran at Canada’s largest food retailer. “My colleagues at the store and I are passionate about reducing food waste, and our daily processes have helped create a culture that’s made it second nature. You hear all the time, ‘save it, don’t scrap it,’ as colleagues work out what can be done with a product before sending it to landfill,” Ridley says.
“We have huddles, daily walks, constant two-way communication and feedback to ensure everyone is informed and engaged – because without them, how could we do this?”
Colleagues’ dedication meshes tightly with Loblaw’s own, agrees Sandra Kesseler, vice president ESG integration and reporting. “We have a fabulous tone from the top here because as a family-owned business, we think long term rather than just in terms of what is right for this quarter or for the year,” she says.
“Loblaw prioritizes ESG in everything it does and ensures it is doing the right thing for the communities in which we serve, from an environmental perspective as well as a social perspective. And when we benchmark ourselves against others, we believe we are leaders.”
That’s supported by the steady upward trajectory in results shown in Loblaw’s annual ESG reports since they began in 2008. The Early Release of Priority 2024 ESG disclosures highlights diverting over 82,000 metric tonnes of food from landfills through food diversion initiatives and increased donations to food charities, as well as investing more than $40 million in over 500 carbon reduction initiatives.
Additionally, Loblaw has adopted the Golden Design Rules (GDR) for plastic packaging as developed by the Consumer Goods Forum’s global Coalition of Action on Plastic Waste. The company, Kesseler notes, has now reached above 90-per-cent compliance with the in-scope GDRs – which include guidelines such as avoiding hard-to-recycle materials and reducing packaging – and is on track to reach 100-per-cent compliance by the end of 2025.
A major initiative concerns improving refrigerant systems in retail stores. In the past, leaking coolant has been hard to detect and environmentally harmful. “We have leveraged data from our centralized energy management systems to develop a system that allows for leaks to be detected earlier. By the end of 2023, this system was implemented in more than 300 stores and is projected to reduce emissions by more than 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually,” says Kesseler.
“Because of the number of fridges and freezers Loblaw has, this is a significant win. By focusing where we can have the biggest impact – doubling down on our carbon reduction efforts and tackling plastic and food waste – we can use our size to make a difference.”
All of that matters very much for Ridley and her colleagues, says the store manager. “There is huge importance in being proud of the company you work for – it makes all the difference in the world – and I’m extremely proud of mine.”
More from Canada’s Greenest Employers
Advertising feature produced by Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a division of Mediacorp Canada Inc. The Globe and Mail’s editorial department was not involved.