How Do Canada’s Top Retailers Rate on Commitment to Eco-Friendly Waste Disposal and Recycling

Corporations are jumping in, in a big way, willing to do their part in the eco-friendly waste management and recycling revolution. Helping the environment by recycling, brands like Walmart are making huge waves among retailers. Some corporations have even committed to zero waste in Canada by a certain date and they’re on line to achieve these numbers as well! Browsing some of our top corporations in retail and grocers, here’s where they rate.

Costco

Costco continues to grow in Canada, as more Canadians seek healthy food options at cheap, bulk pricing. The corporation currently maintains an average waste diversion rate of 71% on average. Costco is a little behind retailers like Walmart however they have maintained a commitment to searching out inefficiencies and increasing the eco-friendly nature of their operations. Costco recycling programs does a lot to collect food, donations, and more, and providing these to families in need, food banks, and similar poverty-driven programs.

Home Hardware

Home Hardware is Canada’s largest independent dealer-owned store for hardware, building materials, lumber, and furniture. They have committed to an 89% waste diversion rate by 2026. Home Hardware has extensive green policies on which employees are trained, have implemented a sustainability-first culture since 2014, and every year has grown closer to its goal. The corporation has done wonders at maximizing its recycling when it comes to paper towels, community garden products, lighting products, cardboard, and more. Alongside RONA, Home Hardware is very much a leader in the eco-friendly hardware retail space in Canada.

Shoppers Drug Mart

One of Canada’s biggest retailers is Shoppers Drug Mart who specifically focus on processing medications, recycling medical-related items or materials, and collecting sharps. If you have expired medications or sharps that you need to get rid of, the pharmacy at Shoppers is worth a visit. As Shoppers Drug Mart is classified under the same umbrella as stores like No Frills, the Real Canadian Superstore, and other Loblaws brands, a lot of the same commitment Loblaws has made are maintained among Shopper locations as well.

RONA

RONA is a strong retailer specializing in recycling a wide array of products that aren’t accepted at other retailers. In Ontario, participating RONAs accept all sorts of paints and wood finishing preservatives, lamps and lights, and cells and batteries. The corporation also manages the recycling or processing of tire-equipped products. RONA directly participates in the collection, transportation, and recycling of tires into new rubber products.

Sobeys

Sobeys, Safeway, and IGA all fit under the same corporation, subsidiaries linked together. Committed to reducing its food waste by 50% by 2025, the company continues to slowly work towards achieving this rate. The company continues to closely monitor waste, how merchandise is developed and packaged, and how surplus food is redirected. Unfortunately, Sobeys like numerous other grocers set up in Canada have proven to be very slow moving in their environmental commitments and waste diversion programs.

Best Buy

Best Buy Canada has a small collection of partners which helps them to collect old electronics and batteries. Things like smartphones, microwaves, home theater systems, printers, computer accessories, TVs, computer monitors, and more are all picked up through Best Buy locations in Ontario. Since it first launched its consumer electronics takeback program in 2009, Best Buy’s recycled more than 2 billion pounds of electronic waste. The corporation in Canada and the United States has committed to 85% waste diversion by the end of 2020. It is not currently known how close they are to this achievement.

Canadian Tire

Canadian Tire has a number of recycling initiatives, including some directed at automotive components, electronics, and batteries. The corporation’s dedicated to making stores more energy-efficient, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and managing their waste with some distribution centres achieving a waste recycling rate of up to 94%, an increase over 63% which was in 2016. Canadian Tire may not be Canada’s brightest retailer when it comes to waste diversion however they offer a lot with what they accept for recycling.

London Drugs

London Drugs has an impressive recycling program accepting things like Styrofoam, smoke alarms, non-rechargeable and rechargeable batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, small kitchen appliances such as waffle makers and other similar electronic products, and more. In Canada, London Drugs’ current waste diversion rate stands as one of the best on this list of retailers at a near-perfect 94.5 percent. The corporation’s done a lot to encourage its customers to bring in their waste and recyclable materials, which scores high marks from us.

Loblaws

Loblaws, like other Canadian grocers, have focused on minimizing the amount of food waste created by them. The corporation’s specifically committed to cutting food waste down by 50% at its locations. In addition, Loblaws maintains a national waste diversion goal of 80 percent at corporate stores and 95 percent at its distribution centres. The corporation’s also contributed to reducing plastic bag usage, incorporate more energy-friendly refrigeration and heating consumption, and more.

The Home Depot

The Home Depot has done its part at offering various recycling programs to pick up hard-to-dispose of items such as batteries and cell phone recycling however they no longer offer fluorescent bulb or paint recycling as they once did. The Home Depot’s sustainability promises haven’t proven to be as clear or committed as other retailers which ranks them as one of the weaker retailers on this list. Especially in comparison with similar retailers like Lowe’s, RONA, and Home Hardware, The Home Depot is arguably the furthest behind when it comes to waste diversion.

Walmart

Walmart’s perhaps Canada’s best retailer in eco-friendly waste management and recycling. Since 2015, Walmart Canada’s retrofitted several stores in LED lights which has resulted in a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 28,000 tonnes of CO2. Walmart’s also maintained a commitment to achieving zero waste by 2025. The retailer’s also phasing out plastic bags, plastic packaging, single-use plastic straws and other single-use plastics, and more. Currently, Walmart Canada’s landfill diversion rate stands at an impressive 87% of waste.

These are some of Canada’s biggest retailers and where they currently rank in terms of eco-friendliness. While consumers are very willing, a lot of what needs to change with waste diversion and to move to a more eco-sustainable economy relies on the efforts of corporations. We are hopeful organizations like Walmart and others will continue to take the lead.