Sprouts report highlights efforts in sourcing, food waste, carbon and plastics

With 380 stores in 23 U.S. states, Sprouts Farmers Market has the influence to move the needle in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues through its growing natural and organic specialty chain stores.

Embracing the adage “what gets measured gets managed,” the Arizona-based retailer recently released its 2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report for the third consecutive year.

This year’s ESG report highlights how the grocer is putting its commitment to “take care of the planet, people and local communities” into action, according to a news release. The report says that Sprouts Farmers Market focused on offering sustainably and responsibly sourced products, eliminating food waste, fighting hunger, reducing its carbon footprint and plastics reduction in 2022.

“I’m proud to share the strong progress we made in our ESG initiatives over the past year,” Brandon Lombardi, Sprouts Farmers Market’s chief sustainability officer, said in a news release. “Our success is rooted in our philosophy of ‘doing well by doing good’ which underscores the importance of operating our business in a way that demonstrates care for our team members, customers, communities, vendor partners, and the planet.”

Related news: Sprouts Farmers Market launches rescued organic produce program

Over the last several years, Spouts has developed it’s ESG reporting milestones by working with third-party ESG advisers and engaging stakeholders that include Sprouts leadership, team members, investors, suppliers, nongovernmental organizations, sustainability professionals and academics.

To determine what was material for ESG reporting, Sprouts reviewed peer benchmarks, ESG rates and frameworks and conducted a series of internal and external in-depth interviews with stakeholders to identify a list of most relevant topics for Sprouts.

The achievements celebrated by the retailer spanned topics from climate to community and, according to the release, included the following highlights.

Sprouts ESG milestones: By the numbers

Sustainable and responsible sourcing

• Sold $3.2 billion in products with a social or environmental attribute.
• Organic goods made up 26% of all products sold.
• Grew plant-based alternatives sales by 21%.
• Supported over $200 million in sales of products from minority- and women-owned businesses.

Climate

• Completed a Scope 3 carbon emissions inventory.
• Averted 51,000 metric tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) through food waste recovery efforts.

Food waste

• Donated 32 million pounds of food — equating to 27 million meals — 45% of which was healthy produce.

• Achieved an 87% food waste recovery rate and 69% total landfill diversion rate.

Packaging and plastics

• Committed to 100% reusable bags at checkout by the end of 2023.

• Transitioned 2.5 million meat trays from polystyrene to recyclable PET trays.

Team members

• Promoted 24% of team members and created 1,600 new jobs through new store openings.

• And 77% of promotions were awarded to female and/or racially/ethnically diverse team members.

Community

• The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation awarded $3.2 million to local school garden and nutrition education programs.

• Organizations supported by the foundation provided 12 million hours of nutrition education programing to over 3 million students.