Last month, Manomet’s Grocery Stewardship team traveled throughout the Mid-Atlantic region to train representatives from 165 Weis Supermarket stores.

 

The training sessions marked the beginning of Weis’ enrollment into the Grocery Stewardship Certification (GSC) program, the nation’s first and only supermarket sustainability certification.  

 

Weis approached the GSC in 2013, seeking a program that could help them build a foundation for store level accountability and corporate-wide sustainability.

 

“Weis is clearly committed to reducing their environmental footprint and making the operation of their stores as sustainable as possible,” said GSC Program Manager Peter Cooke. “In preparation for enrolling in GSC, Weis established Green Leaders and Green Teams within each of their stores who will work with us to assess where their current practices are and ways we can improve them.”

 

In addition to the training sessions, Cooke and GSC Program Associate Catrina Damrell visited four stores from each district and underwent a thorough assessment of each stores’ current operations.

 

Cooke explains, “The onsite walk-throughs allow us to get a clear picture of how each store operates from the ground up, while diagnosing any issues or addressing questions from the Green Leader and other store management staff. During the process, we examine everything from lighting fixtures to employee engagement practices, using the workbook as reference and verifying the point total for the store’s GSC certification.”

 

Weis Markets is the second regional grocery chain, after Hannaford Supermarkets, that has enrolled its entire company in the Grocery Stewardship Certification (GSC) program.

 

John Lerch, Director of Energy and Facility Maintenance at Weis Markets said, “The GSC program provides the framework for capturing the sustainability practices at each store and the verification assessments will authenticate the efforts made by Weis. The relationship with the GSC is extremely important in closing the loop and making our sustainability efforts authentic to our customers.”