Foodbank Sustainability
The St. Louis Area Foodbank has been committed to fighting hunger locally since 1975. Our commitment to sustainability has reduced costs allowing us to feed more families in need.
We provide these agencies with a stable, reliable source of nutritious food that supplements what they get from other sources.
Since 2012, we’ve:
- Expanded our retail store pickup program to reduce the amount of food being thrown in local landfills
- Implemented truck routing software, a system to more efficiently map out our drivers routes to reduce fuel emissions
- Installed a baler in our warehouse to recycle the large volume of cardboard we use each year
- Worked with Microgrid Solar to install 80 solar panels on the roof of the Foodbank
- Improved lighting quality while reducing air-conditioning and refrigeration loads through replacement of inefficient indoor and outdoor lighting with high performance LED
- Upgraded building and automation system to allow for scheduling and temperature control of HVAC systems
- Variable-speed drives for water-cooled refrigeration condenser fans
- New Web-based smart thermostats in the warehouse
- Smart irrigation controls
In the past 5 years, the Foodbank increased food distribution by 26% while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by 14%. This is a 32% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions per 1,000 pounds distributed.♦
This equals:
Providing More Than Energy
Our efforts to increase our sustainability have resulted in a savings of more than $210,000 last fiscal year.♦
Not only is this great news for our overall cost, but it also means we are able to provide an additional 840,000 meals to families in need.
In our efforts to create a more sustainable planet, we are striving to reduce the environmental impact of our operations.
