The Challenge
With the launch of its sustainability strategy in 2012 Food Lion decided to take sustainability across its more than 1,000 grocery store locations to a new level. Designed to help the supermarket chain reduce its environmental footprint, the strategy calls for a more environmentally-friendly approach to store construction and operation. To achieve that goal, Food Lion sought new ways to divert construction waste during store remodeling efforts.
The Solution
One of the largest supermarket chains in the country, Food Lion is already recycling over 50 percent of the waste it generates, including the construction waste produced during remodels and general maintenance of stores.
A portion of the construction waste is used ceiling panels. Since 2003, Food Lion has been recycling the old ceilings through the Armstrong Ceilings Recycling Program. The program enables commercial building owners to ship discarded ceiling tiles from renovation projects to the nearest Armstrong plant as an alternative to landfill disposal. The discarded tiles are used to manufacture new ceiling tiles for the Armstrong Ceiling-2-Ceiling product line.
“Anytime we can recycle something from our stores, we do,” says Mike Eason, construction manager for Food Lion parent company Delhaize America. “Ceiling tiles are a product that is easy to recycle and minimizes the waste we send to landfills during construction projects.”
Since participating in the program, Food Lion has recycled more than 2.3 million square feet of used ceiling panels, diverting roughly 1,025 tons of construction debris – the equivalent of about 102,500 tires – away from landfills in the communities where it operates.
“At Food Lion, our philosophy is ‘Easy, Fresh and Affordable. You Can Count on Food Lion Every Day!’ This means our customers can count on us every day for the products they need and a great shopping experience. It also means they can count us to be a good environmental steward. Recycling, conserving energy, and managing other natural resources is part of who we are.”