Giant Eagle Celebrates Earth Day With Commitment To Significantly Reduce Water Consumption

PITTSBURGH, April 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Multi-format food, fuel and pharmacy retailer, Giant Eagle, Inc., has a longstanding tradition of supporting the communities it serves as well as being a responsible steward of the environment. In addition to its everyday sustainable business practices, Giant Eagle is celebrating Earth Day this year with a commitment to reduce water consumption by five percent by July 2017, resulting in an anticipated conservation of millions of gallons of water. 

"Giant Eagle has long been dedicated to conserving natural resources through the implementation of environmentally-minded business practices," said Giant Eagle Senior Vice President of Real Estate and Development, Shelly Sponholz. "We feel that it is important to be environmentally conscious, not only on Earth Day, but throughout the year. It is with this mentality that we operate 12 LEED-certified retail locations, have converted nearly half of our distribution fleet to CNG powered vehicles and recycle more than 700 tons of plastic bags annually."

According to Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, by 2050, demand for water is projected to rise by an estimated 40 percent. In an effort to accommodate this growing demand, Giant Eagle executed a five month conservation program in which each of the eight pilot locations exceeded a five percent water savings. As a result, all corporately operated Giant Eagle supermarkets will be retrofitted with water conservation equipment by June 30, 2015.

In addition to conservation efforts being put in place throughout Giant Eagle supermarkets, the company's WetGo car wash locations utilize water reclamation systems in order to make quality car washing more environmentally friendly. A single car wash at WetGo uses approximately 50 percent fewer gallons of fresh water than typical car washes.

Giant Eagle is dedicated to reducing its carbon footprint through various sustainability initiatives including plastic recycling programs, solar roofing technology and more. Giant Eagle customers have helped the company to save more than 50 miles of register paper by selecting eReceipts at checkout. Since the option launched in January, eReceipts have offset more than 400 thousand paper receipts. Giant Eagle will donate one dollar for every eReceipt issued this Earth Day, up to one thousand dollars, to local parks in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Columbus. For more information about the company's environmentally conscious practices, please see the enclosed Giant Eagle Sustainability Fact Sheet.

About Giant Eagle
Giant Eagle, Inc., ranked 35 on Forbes magazine's largest private corporations list, is one of the nation's largest food retailers and distributors with approximately $9.6 billion in annual sales. Founded in 1931, Giant Eagle, Inc. has grown to be the number one supermarket retailer in the region with 418 retail locations throughout western Pennsylvania, north central Ohio, northern West Virginia and Maryland. 

Giant Eagle Sustainability Fact Sheet

Innovative Energy Solutions

• Solar roofing technology is utilized at select store locations throughout the company's footprint, including the Route 82 and I-77 Giant Eagle in Broadview Heights and the Strongsville and Grandview Yard Market District locations in Ohio, as well as the McKnight Road and Southside GetGo locations in Pittsburgh.
• Coupling solar array technologies with a white roof generates significant energy savings. Between all solar equipped stores, Giant Eagle saves approximately 750,000 kilowatt-hours per year utilizing new solar technologies.
• The company purchases renewable energy certificates which equate to 21 million kwh of renewable energy annually.

Expansion of Alternative Fueling Offerings

• Since the opening of its first public/private compressed natural gas station just west of Pittsburgh in 2011, Giant Eagle has expanded its alternative fuel efforts to include its first GetGo branded CNG fueling location north of Pittsburgh and a second private CNG location to fuel the company's commercial CNG fleet in Northeast Ohio.
• More than 90 CNG powered vehicles account for approximately 44% of the Giant Eagle's total distribution fleet. These trucks drive more than six million miles annually on the cleaner burning fuel which offsets more than 45 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

Reusable Bags

• Between 84 and 100 billion plastic bags are used annually in the United States, with less than five percent of them being recycled. Giant Eagle offers customers various reusable bag options starting at $0.99.
• Giant Eagle supermarkets successfully collected and recycled more than 700 tons of plastic retailer bags as a result of its recycling program.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

• Since opening the world's first LEED-certified supermarket in Brunswick, Ohio in 2004, Giant Eagle has made incorporating environmentally friendly features such as the use of non-ozone-depleting refrigerants into each of its stores a priority.
• Receiving LEED certification in April, the Southside Works GetGo is the 12^th location to be awarded the designation.

Recycling, Waste Reduction and Diversion

• Throughout 2014, Giant Eagle diverted and recycled nearly three thousand tons of food waste from the meat and food preparation areas.
• The company recycled more than 45 thousand tons of cardboard, paper, plastic and cans last year.

SOURCE Giant Eagle, Inc.