Sustainability at Kroger

As America’s grocer, Kroger is committed to advancing positive change in our company and our communities to protect people and our planet. Through Kroger’s Zero Hunger | Zero Waste social impact plan, we are on a journey to end hunger in the places we call home and eliminate waste across our company by 2025. We have ambitious sustainability goals for 2020, thoughtful plans to drive innovation, strong partnerships and committed associates. Together, we live Our Purpose – to Feed the Human Spirit™ – every day.

Read Our 2018 Sustainability Report

Sustainable Supply Chain

Our customers and stakeholders want to know more about the food they eat – where it comes from and how it’s made. They all want to feel good about our choices. As one of the world’s largest retailers, Kroger focuses on improving transparency in our supply chain, from sourcing sustainable raw ingredients and fresh products to advancing fair labor practices and animal welfare.

Read more about how we are improving Responsible Sourcing in our 2020 Sustainability Goals progress update.

High-Impact Commodities

High-impact commodities are products that have the potential for greater social, environmental or economic impacts because of where and how they are produced or processed. Kroger actively looks for opportunities to influence positive change in our supply chain – examples include seafood, cocoa, palm oil, conflict minerals and flowers.
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We’re All in the Same Boat

To improve seafood sustainability, Kroger has supported 27 fishery improvement projects around the world since 2009. This collaborative effort brings together fishers, the private sector, government, researchers and NGOs to improve the environmental performance of a fishery and help ensure we responsibly use our natural resources.

Our Products

Kroger is quickly becoming a top destination when customers are looking for affordable and accessible organic and natural foods. We offer thousands of natural, organic and eco-friendly product choices to meet our customers’ needs and preferences for their families and homes.
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The Simple Truth®

We offer thousands of natural, organic and eco-friendly product choices to meet our customers’ needs and preferences for their families and homes. Our natural and organics brand, Simple Truth®, reached $2 billion in annual sales in 2017. These items have clearly defined product standards, including being “free from” 101 artificial preservatives and ingredients. We offer more than 1,400 unique Simple Truth® or Simple Truth Organic™ products across a wide variety of categories.

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Eco-Stewardship

Kroger is committed to improving sustainability – using natural resources responsibly, reducing the impact of our operations and eliminating waste. Read more about how we are improving Eco-Stewardship in our 2020 Sustainability Goals progress update. We focus our work on waste reduction and diversion, reducing our energy and climate impacts, and increasing water efficiency.

Generating Renewable Power

In late 2017, Kroger started up an anaerobic wastewater treatment system at the KB Specialty Foods manufacturing facility in Greensburg, Ind. The system will turn food production byproducts into energy and improve air quality in the area. At maximum capacity, the digester can generate up to 30% of the plant’s power.

Zero Waste

As part of Zero Hunger | Zero Waste, Kroger is committed to eliminating waste across our company by 2025. In 2017, we continued to move the needle in our waste reduction initiatives and look for new ways to improve our business practices. Whether it is diverting waste from landfills, reducing packaging, recycling plastic bags, or donating safe, wholesome food to food banks, we are actively finding responsible and innovative alternatives for our waste.

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Energy Efficiency

Reducing our carbon footprint is an important pillar in Kroger’s sustainability commitment, and we continue to invest in energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies. Increasing energy efficiency, reducing refrigerant emissions and using more renewable energy are key areas of focus.

Learn More About Our Energy Reduction Work

A Focus On Sustainability

Our Progress

Read this Progress Update on Kroger’s 2020 Sustainability Goals.


See Our Goals

2018 Sustainability Report

Please visit our complete 2018 Sustainability Report for more about Kroger’s commitment to a brighter future.


Visit Our Sustainability Site

Zero Hunger | Zero Waste

We are excited to work with our partners to eliminate food waste across our business by 2025.


Zero Hunger | Zero Waste

Eliminating waste across our company – achieving Zero Waste – is a top priority for Kroger. We follow the food waste hierarchy, focusing on preventing waste first, then feeding people, feeding animals, recycling and composting the rest. We believe we can make a meaningful difference to America’s hunger and waste problem.

Learn more about Zero Hunger | Zero Waste.

Eliminating waste across our company – achieving Zero Waste – is a top priority for Kroger. We follow the food waste hierarchy, focusing on preventing waste first, then feeding people, feeding animals, recycling and composting the rest. We believe we can make a meaningful difference to America’s hunger and waste problem.

Learn more about Zero Hunger | Zero Waste.

We set high quality and performance standards for all Our Brands products, whether we make them ourselves or use a third-party supplier. In order to do business with Kroger, a supplier is required to agree to our Vendor Code of Conduct, which can be found here. We have a zero tolerance policy for human rights violations. If suppliers (or their suppliers) do not live up to our Code, we will not do business with them.

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Kroger is reducing refrigerant emissions to help improve energy efficiency. In 2017, we met our goal to reduce refrigerant emissions by 10% in stores and set a new goal to further reduce store emissions by 9% in 2018.

Responsible Construction

The headquarters of 84.51° (at 100 W. 5th St. in downtown Cincinnati) is a LEED Silver Certified building. During construction, more than 85% of the debris was recycled, 45% of new materials used were sourced and manufactured within 500 miles of Cincinnati, 23% of materials were manufactured with recycled content, and 97% of the wood came from Forest Stewardship Council certified sources. The parking garage also features space for 100 bikes, 6 electric vehicle charging stations, and preferred parking for fuel-efficient vehicles.

The Kroger Family of Companies