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Stop and Shop Enters Partnership to Help Fight Climate Change

Release Date: 02/07/2008
Contact Information: Paula Ballentine, (617) 918-1027, ballentine.paula@epa.gov

(Quincy, Mass. – Feb. 7, 2008) –The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company of Quincy, Mass. today announced joining the SmartWay Transport^® Partnership, a collaboration with the federal government to save an estimated 33 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) and 200,000 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions annually by 2012.

In joining the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) SmartWay Transport^® Partnership program, Stop & Shop commits to voluntary targets for increasing the energy and fuel efficiency of its fleet. One of the Northeast’s largest grocery chains, Stop & Shop announced the partnership at a news conference today with EPA, New England. The partnership is part of Stop & Shop and, sister company, Giant Food’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution, thus reduce its carbon footprint. EPA is also recognizing both companies today as ENERGY STAR Leaders for improvements in the energy efficiency of their buildings.

“2008 will be the year that corporate America rises to the challenge to do its part to act against global climate change,” said Jose Alvarez, CEO of Stop & Shop and Giant. “This is the right thing for us to do because we are serious about leaving a lasting legacy – a healthy planet – to our children and grandchildren.”

Alvarez said that food transportation between distribution centers and stores is a vital and necessary component of its operations. “Conserving energy and improving energy efficiency will allow us to lower operating costs, which in turn permits us to pass savings on to customers and to keep prices low,” Alvarez said.

In the Northeast, heavy-duty trucks contribute 40 percent of NOx and 30 percent of particulate matter emissions generated by the transportation sector, two pollutants with serious health and environmental impacts. With 165 trucks that travel over 17 million miles per year, Stop & Shop has already instituted a number of efficiencies, resulting in a fuel economy average 22% greater than most truck fleets and saving over eight thousand tons of CO2, 46 tons of NOx, and one ton of particulate matter per year, according to EPA calculations.

Specific technologies that Stop & Shop is using to improve fuel efficiency include automatic engine shutdown to reduce idling, cab roof fairings and reduced cab/trailer gap to reduce wind resistance, advanced lubricants to reduce drive train friction losses, and longer trailers to carry more product in one trip.

In addition, Stop & Shop trains drivers in ways to shift efficiently and avoid idling and uses on-board computer data to give their truck drivers feedback on their fuel efficiency. Drivers have responded by significantly improving their mpg and reducing idle time.

“Stop & Shop’s leadership on the trucking side of its operations provides a great model for New England companies looking to improve their environmental performance overall and to help the region achieve ambient air quality standards, while thriving economically,” said EPA Regional Administrator Bob Varney.

Companies join the SmartWay Transport^® Partnership for a three year period and begin by analyzing the efficiency of their operations using special software. EPA helps partners set individualized goals for fuel saving and emission reductions and selects from a wide variety of technology and procedural strategies to meet those goals while saving money. Partners benchmark their operations, track their savings, and report yearly to EPA.

Stop & Shop is piloting additional strategies to further improve their SmartWay efficiency score, including using single-wide tires to reduce rolling resistance, and automatic tire inflation systems.

Stop & Shop will continue to explore other technologies and strategies to reduce fuel use and emissions as part of their SmartWay Transport^® Partnership. Stop& Shop is one of a few supermarket chains across the country to achieve recognition by EPA both as a SmartWay Transport^® Partner and an ENERGY STAR Leader, and is the only New England company to achieve the latter recognition in 2007. The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, based in Quincy, Massachusetts, and its sister company, Giant Food of Landover, Md., employ more than 82,000 associates and operate 575 stores throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia.

EPA launched the SmartWay Transport^® Partnership in 2004 to address the environmental and economic challenges surrounding growth in the freight industry. Through the SmartWay, EPA is now working with more than 650 businesses to improve both their bottom line and the environment by offering technical assistance, tools for evaluating opportunities to lower fuel use and emissions, and help in locating financing for the purchase of fuel-saving equipment and technology.

More information: EPA’s SmartWay Transport^® Partnership (epa.gov/smartway)

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Contacts:
- Paula Ballentine, U.S. EPA, (617) 918-1027, ballentine.paula@epa.gov
- Robert Keane, The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, (617) 770-6023