Sustainability

Our Approach To Sustainability

The food system remains one of the primary drivers of climate change and environmental degradation. AWG plays an important role in developing solutions to these challenges and  AWG must integrate sustainability into strategy and action. AWG is incorporating sustainability into everyday operations, making environmental improvements that positively impact member retailers, promote a sustainable future and lead to social and economical improvements in the communities in which it operates. AWG teams are working to reduce contributions to climate change through operational excellence practices such as implementing sustainable procurement methods, reducing consumption of energy, reducing waste, increasing recycling and investments in clean energy.

Responsible Partnerships – No one company can address these issues alone. AWG knows that continuous environment improvement stretches beyond just its walls so fostering partnerships that enhance a cleaner operation are vitally important. 

Food & Waste Diversion

Distribution Center Waste

  • From January 2020 to December 2022, AWG has diverted more than 89,885,218 pounds from landfills into environmentally friendly options such as recycling, reuse, energy, composting and land application. In 2022 less than 8% of AWG’s waste went to landfills. AWG’s 2023 goal is less than 5%. Here are some of AWG’s environmental impacts:
    • Barrels of oil from plastics-730,582
    • Gallons of water from paper-300,480,509
    • Tons of CO2 from paper-42,926
    • Electricity from paper-242,101,439

Food Donations

  • In 2022 AWG donated more than $6 million of food to area food banks.