Kroger Provides Resources to Help Families Prevent Food Waste While Enjoying More Meals at Home

CINCINNATI, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In September 2017, The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) announced the launch of Zero Hunger | Zero Waste, the company's bold social impact plan aimed at ending hunger in the communities it calls home and eliminating waste across the company by 2025.

Three years later, Americans are more conscious of food waste than ever before. A recent national survey of Kroger shoppers conducted by 84.51˚, Kroger's data analytics subsidiary, revealed that food waste prevention is top of mind for many families as they continue to enjoy more meals together at home:

• The majority of shoppers are eating more meals together as a family

• Nearly 3 out of 4 are eating meals prepared at home multiple times a day, with more than half of those meals requiring a moderate to high amount of preparation

• 35% strongly agree they are more conscious of food waste since the onset of COVID-19

• Nearly half cite food expiration as the biggest cause for food waste during the pandemic

"The past several months have demonstrated just how much meals matter, especially when they're prepared and enjoyed with family and friends," said Keith Dailey, Kroger's group vice president of corporate affairs and chief sustainability officer. "As customers continue to rediscover their passion for making food and gathering around the dinner table, Kroger will be there to provide food inspiration and easy ways to join our mission to create a world with zero hunger and zero waste."

The company invites customers to join its Zero Hunger | Zero Waste journey with support from several new and longstanding Kroger initiatives, including:

• Round Up for The Kroger Co. Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation: Customers can support The Kroger Co. Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation by rounding up their purchase to the nearest dollar or committing a donation of their choice ($1, $5 and $10 in value) at check lanes across nearly 2,800 Kroger Family of Stores. Customers can also direct individual gifts via e-commerce orders on Kroger.com and at ZeroHungerZeroWasteFoundation.org.

This spring, the Foundation accelerated funding totaling nearly $400,000 to five social enterprises in its Innovation Fund portfolio. The innovators—Food Forest, Imperfect Foods, Replate, Ripe Revival and Seal the Seasons—are actively deploying their solutions for on-farm and at-home food waste reduction across the country.

• Reference Kroger's Simplified Date Labels: In 2020, Kroger's manufacturing plants and co-packing suppliers aligned to the company's plan to standardize date labels for Our Brands food products, providing simpler, easier-to-understand labels that result in less household food waste.

• Access Food Waste Resources on Kroger.com: Visit Kroger.com for food waste prevention resources, including fridge organization tips, freezer-friendly facts, meal prep planners and fresh, waste-free recipes.

• Recycle in Stores with Kroger's Plastic Film Recycling Program: Customers can recycle single-use plastic bags, outer package wrapping, plastic cereal box liners and shipping materials through our free, in-store plastic film recycling program. In the past three years, the program has recycled more than 180 million pounds of plastic.

• Recycle from Home with Kroger's Simple Truth^® Recycling Program: Kroger's Simple Truth Recycling Program offers customers a free and simple way to recycle the flexible packaging of more than 300 products from Simple Truth, America's largest natural and organic brand, without leaving home. Kroger invites customers to sign up for the program at TerraCycle.com/SimpleTruth.

Kroger Suppliers Join Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Journey by Committing to Cut Food Loss and Waste in Half

Kroger today announced that 16 of its major suppliers to date have joined the groundbreaking 10x20x30 initiative to identify and reduce food loss and waste from their supply chains. Kroger joins more than 10 of the world's largest food retailers and providers as a founding member of 10x20x30, committing to engage at least 20 suppliers in a holistic approach to halve food loss and waste by 2030.

Kroger's goal is even more ambitious: achieve zero food waste in its own retail grocery operations by 2025. In the past two years, the company has decreased total food waste generated in stores by 13% and improved its food waste diversion rate by almost 18%.

Through the 10x20x30 initiative, Kroger's partner suppliers have committed to a 50% reduction target in their own operations, to measure and publish their food loss and waste inventories, and to create actionable strategies to reduce waste. Participating suppliers to date include:

• Amy's
• Chobani
• Clif Bar & Company
• Danone North America
• Dayka & Hackett, LLC
• Driscoll's
• Flowers Foods, Inc
• Grimmway Farms
• High Liner Foods
• Hormel Foods
• Impossible Foods
• Pacific Coast Producers
• Rich Products Corporation
• Taylor Farms
• Tillamook County Creamery Association
• Unilever

"Kroger's Zero Hunger | Zero Waste plan includes ambitious goals that require partnership, collaboration and innovation," added Dailey. "We're proud to partner with these leading suppliers that are committed to bold action, and we encourage other producers and CPG brands to join us. It will take all of our collective action to realize our vision of a future free of hunger and waste."

10x20x30 was launched at the 2019 annual food loss and waste summit hosted by Champions 12.3, a voluntary coalition of executives from business, government and civil society committed to raising ambition and motivating action to achieve the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 12.3. SDG Target 12.3 calls for a 50% reduction in food loss and waste worldwide by 2030. The coalition inspired and helped develop 10x20x30, with the World Resources Institute as co-secretariat of Champions 12.3 and lead provider of technical assistance to the 10x20x30 retailers and suppliers. This week's 10x20x30 announcements coincide with the 2020 UN General Assembly and Climate Week NYC, further amplifying collective efforts to achieve the SDGs.

Suppliers interested in joining Kroger's 10x20x30 initiative can contact the company's sustainability team at [email protected].

ABOUT THE KROGER CO.
At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are Fresh for Everyone™ and dedicated to our Purpose: To Feed the Human Spirit®. We are, across our family of companies, nearly half a million associates who serve over 11 million customers daily through a seamless shopping experience under a variety of banner names. We are committed to creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities by 2025. To learn more about us, visit our newsroom and investor relations site.

SOURCE The Kroger Co.

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