H-E-B Environmental Sustainability
We love Texas and we feel it’s our responsibility to take good care of the state we proudly call home. By being energy efficient and conserving natural resources, we’re helping our communities and creating savings that we pass on to you in the form of everyday low prices. It’s the neighborly and right thing to do.
Listed below is a small sample of H-E-B’s sustainability efforts:
Community –
• In 2020, H‑E‑B donated more than 43.5 million pounds of food to food banks in Texas and Mexico.
• H-E-B supports environmental programs for organizations such as: Keep Texas Beautiful, The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Texas, EarthShare of Texas, Cibolo Nature Center & Farm, Hill Country Conservancy, National Wildlife Federation, San Antonio Botanical Gardens, EcoRise, and many more.
Seafood Sustainability –
• In 2019, the San Antonio-based retailer, in partnership with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a prominent, international conservation organization, strengthened its commitment to create an industry-leading sustainability program dedicated to sourcing top-quality seafood from socially and environmentally responsible fisheries and farms. As one of the biggest independently-owned retailers in Texas, H-E-B will continue using its voice as a large seafood buyer and environmental steward to influence change across
the industry. Seafood sustainability is a top priority for the company, and H-E-B pledges to regularly update and enhance its policies with help from organizations such as EDF, which strategically advise the retailer in its efforts to support and uphold some of the industry’s highest standards. This commitment draws from EDF’s expertise and H-E-B’s longstanding efforts to continually improve its sourcing standards and transparency for all fresh, frozen, prepared and shelf-stable seafood.
• Additionally, in 2020, H-E-B took it a step further and launched a new seafood branding program, which highlights the strong certification and sourcing requirements for Wild Caught and Responsibly Raised seafood products. H-E-B Wild Caught and H-E-B Responsibly Raised brands represent the retailer’s bold commitment to traceable and sustainable fishing and farming. To learn more about these brands, visit www.heb.com/seafood.
Environmentally Friendly Stores –
• H-E-B is part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) GreenChill Partnership, strengthening its commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by continuing to invest in cutting-edge, environmentally sustainable refrigeration systems.
• Nine H-E-B stores have been awarded LEED® (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design™) green building certifications and we’ve incorporated many of the same sustainable design strategies into our new stores.
• Our LEED Gold certified H-E-B at Mueller store in Austin serves as a test for numerous sustainable innovations including the first North American supermarket to use a whole-store propane refrigeration system.
Water –
• To reduce watering needs, landscaping at our stores includes native and adapted plant selections appropriate to the area.
• We save at least 828,000 gallons of water each year by keeping truck wash cycles minutes below five minutes per wash.
• Low flow restroom and kitchen fixtures have been used for many years in stores.
• Car Wash rinse water is reclaimed, filtered, and reused in the wash cycle, reducing potable water use by 80 percent, saving over 10 million gallons of water in San Antonio alone.
• The new manufacturing cleaning system is saving over 15 million gallons of water.
Transportation –
• Reduced use of diesel fuel by over 830,000 gallons each year and carbon dioxide emissions by more than 8,300 tons annually. This is the equivalent to 21 million miles driven by vehicles.
• Due to fuel-saving strategies, we were the only Texas-based company invited to serve as a charter partner in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) SmartWay Transport Partnership. The Partnership was formed to reduce the greenhouse gas and other
harmful emissions from the heavy- duty sector.
• We have improved fuel economy by over 41% in the past nine years by continually tweaking new technologies made available to us to custom fit our loads and the terrain of our area of Texas.
• We use wide-based single tires on our big rigs. They are lighter weight, more fuel efficient and use less oil in the manufacturing process compared to two standard dual tires.
• We recycle our used tires into rubber mulch.
• We have invested in electric vehicles and charging stations at our facilities to reduce emissions.
Energy –
• To produce green energy, more than 100,000 solar panels are installed at our stores and manufacturing, warehouse and transportation facilities.
• At our Weslaco distribution center, we installed nearly 4,000 solar panels spanning 105,000 square feet. The 1.2-megawatt installation supplies 40% of the facility’s energy each year. In addition, we provide our South Texas facilities with five megawatts of wind energy from a Texas windfarm each year.
• In early 2021, we will complete the installation and commissioning of our largest rooftop solar system to date at our Super Regional Retail Support Center in San Antonio, adding nearly 11,000 solar panels to our total count!
• We will continue our investment in renewable energy systems across all H-E-B facilities.
Waste Reduction –
• In 2020, H-E-B diverted 60 percent of waste from landfills by recycling more than 527 million pounds of materials such as cardboard, plastics, office paper, food waste, metals, and truck tires.
• Our Organic Diversion Programs have diverted more than 45 million pounds of organics from the landfill to compost and animal feed.
• In 2020, nearly three million pounds of plastic bags and film was collected from store recycling bins, an effort H-E-B plans to expand.
• H-E-B recycled 17 million pounds of plastics in 2020.
• Each year, H-E-B gives away more than 200,000 reusable bags on Earth day. Since 2008, H-E-B has given customers more than two million reusable bags in commemoration of Earth Day.
