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Giant Food Stores, Keep PA Beautiful To Held Tree Planting Event In Cumberland County As Part Of Carbon Emissions Reduction Program

On October 4, GIANT Food Stores and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful held a volunteer tree planting event at Kings Gap Environmental Center in Cumberland County as part of GIANT's program to help customers reduce their carbon footprint.

“We are thrilled to expand our relationship with Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful as part of our Reduced Emissions Program,” said Manuel Haro, GIANT/MARTIN’S vice president, strategy. “This is a great opportunity for both GIANT/MARTIN’S and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful to go the extra mile and make a difference, together, right here in the communities we work and live in across the Commonwealth.”

Announced in April of this year, for every qualifying gallon of fuel purchased at GIANT/MARTIN’S 99 fuel stations, GreenPrint will invest in carbon projects across the globe, like creating local greenscapes or tree plantings.

These efforts will offset up to 30 percent of the customer’s tailpipe carbon emissions.

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful has more than 25 years of experience in organizing volunteer-driven illegal dump cleanup and beautification events.

Expanding upon the contributions from Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s active network of local affiliates, the organization will enlist GIANT employee volunteers in conjunction with the Reduced Emissions Program community outreach team.

GIANT already provides many hours of employee-contributed community improvement projects and this new program will continue to advance its efforts to be a better community and a better place to work.

“We are excited to build on our existing relationship with GIANT through the Reduced Emissions Program,” explains Shannon Reiter, president of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful. “GIANT is a sponsor of the Great American Cleanup of PA and for the last two years has provided recycled content benches to schools participating in our Litter Free School Zone program. We look forward to supporting GIANT employees wanting to engage directly in their communities through this new effort.”

GIANT is committed to being a responsible retailer through a variety of other green efforts.

Last month, GIANT announced its Cleona, Lancaster County store located at 481 West Penn Avenue, as the first in the chain to reach zero waste. A recognized definition by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, zero waste means 90 percent or more of a store’s total waste is being diverted from a landfill or incineration.

Last year, the company saved more than 930,000 trees by recycling cardboard at all stores and distribution centers.

Since 2011, GIANT and its parent company have successfully removed more than one billion plastic bags from the waste stream through more efficient bagging, increased usage of reusable tote bags by customers, and turning plastic bags into 1,500 donated park benches through its Bags to Benches program.

Currently, 77 percent of all waste generated by its stores is diverted through recycling and composting.

The volunteer tree planting on October 4 will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Kings Gap Environmental Center, 500 Kings Gap Road, Carlisle, 17015.

For more information, visit Giant’s Reduced Emission Program and Care For The Environment webpages.

For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful website. Click Here to become a member. Click Here to sign up for regular updates from KPB, Like them on Facebook, Follow on Twitter, Discover them on Pinterest and visit their YouTube Channel.

Also visit the Illegal Dump Free PA website for more ideas on how to clean up communities and keep them clean and KPB’s Electronics Waste website.

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