Lucky Donates 100 Tons of Store-generated Compost

Save Mart-owned Lucky Stores has donated 100 tons of store-generated compost to school and community gardens to support key health and education initiatives in the Bay Area.

The high-quality compost is made from the fresh waste generated in Lucky stores that is back-hauled to a production facility in the Central Valley and made into compost. Lucky packages and stocks the compost in stores and sells it to consumers—a practice the company has been conducting since May 1997.

“All of the fresh food that we can no longer sell in our stores is rescued,” said Steve Junqueiro, president and COO of Save Mart. “Consumable products are given to local Feeding America food banks, and our fresh waste is made into high-quality compost. Composting has been part of our business operation for years, but today we’re happy to share the product of this work with our communities.”

Lucky has partnered with the following organizations on the project:

  • Burnett Middle School in San Jose in support of the school’s garden—a site also supported by Silicon Valley HealthCorps (SVHC).
  • Oakland Unified School District’s Castlemont High School in support of the school’s new organic garden.
  • Collective Roots in East Palo Alto works to educate and engage youth and communities in food system change through sustainable programs that impact health, education and the environment.
  • Contra Costa Master Growers community garden in Walnut Creek, which donates all the food that is grown to the Contra Costa Food Bank, Monument Crisis Center and Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen.
  • Sacramento High School’s Edible Garden provides a transformative experience in food education through an integrated curriculum across three main activities: a school garden, a kitchen classroom and a student-run cafeteria.

In addition, Lucky has committed 20 tons of compost to school and community gardens in San Francisco through a partnership with Earth Day San Francisco. This compost will be made available to groups at the Daly City Lucky store on Saturday, April 13.

"The Castlemont Farm project will empower Castlemont's Sustainable Urban Design Academy students to make a tangible, positive impact on the health and food security of their community,” said Park Guthrie, garden-education specialist for Oakland Unified School District. “Students will learn about sustainable agriculture, systems theory, ecology, and soil science while developing green job skills as they help grow significant amounts of fresh healthy produce for their community. Such innovative and engaging projects are only possible with the support of partners like Lucky Supermarkets.”

Modesto, Calif.-based Save Mart owns and operates 226 stores in Northern California and Northern Nevada under the Save Mart, S-Mart Foods, Lucky, Maxx Value Foods and FoodMaxx banners.

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