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Tony’s Eco-friendly Practices

Posted on: April 16th, 2018

Tony’s Cares. As individuals and as a company, we are proud to operate under a comprehensive Tony’s Eco-friendly practices program that works to effectively reduce environmental impact in a wide range of areas. Tony’s has been committed to Green Initiatives since 1990. This has involved switching to more environmental friendly cleaning chemicals; lowering fuel usage by consolidating deliveries and reducing the number of vendor trucks in and out of our stores; and visibly cutting our electric and natural gas usage through efficient kitchen practices.

Keep reading to learn how Tony’s makes eco-friendly practices an every-day part of their business.

Eco-Friendly Practices: RECYCLING PROGRAM

TRASH

Tony’s has been an enthusiastic participant in the Colorado recycling program ever since it became available. By recycling, we help save energy, reduce water pollution, reduce water consumption, preserve natural resources, and contribute to job creation. Each year, Tony’s recycles 32,100 cubic yards of waste that would otherwise be sent to landfills. That’s enough to cover five football fields, three feet high!

COOKING OIL

Tony’s recycles all of our cooking oil through Darling Ingredients. Using a refining process, Darling Ingredients is able to produce biofuel that is 98% pure. In 2013, through a partnership with with Valero Energy Corporation, Darling Ingredients constructed North America’s largest facility to convert animal fats, used cooking oils, and distiller oils into renewable diesel. We’re proud to be able to contribute to this green industry.

FOOD

In the US, organic waste is the second highest component of landfills, which are the largest source of methane emissions. It’s reported that 20 pounds of food per person is wasted every month.

As a food retailer, we believe strongly in dong our part to reduce the amount of food waste. We routinely donate food, both fresh and nearing expiration dates, to a variety of foundations and charities that work directly with hungry individuals and families in Colorado.

Tony’s donates 25,000 meals annually to Denver Rescue Mission, Food Bank of the Rockies, Little Sisters of the Poor, and Haven of Hope.

ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY STORES

Eco-friendly practicesOur goal is to minimize our environmental impact and operate in a sustainable and thoughtful manner. This involves careful choices in equipment, refrigeration, construction, remodeling, maintenance, refrigeration, lighting, and energy usage.

Thoughtful care goes into each decision we make for product packaging, our team seek help from the best packaging companies like https://www.printron.com/our-artwork/. Our bags are made from recycled materials, and can themselves, be recycled. Our catering division uses reusable platters, trays, warming units, and bowls as well as recyclable and compostable service ware. No decision is too small to consider environmental impact!

Eco-Friendly Practices: MEAT PROGRAM

BEEF

Tony’s is very selective about the quality of our meats and how they are raised. We buy the highest quality USDA inspected meats representing the top 10-12% of locally raised meats. We practice old world aging and butchery, so we can stand behind our quality.

Our animals are responsibly raised and harvested by ranchers and processors that share
our values on humane treatment and the thoughtful use of land, water, energy, and other natural resources. The red meats we carry are free-range, fed on natural grasses and forage during the growing months. Our meats are tested by a third party to verify they contain no man-made hormones or other chemical residues. We tour ranches, feed operations, and processors, as well as conduct random testing to assure a clean, safe product.

Read more about our beef

PORK

Our pork products are all natural, sustainably raised, and part of a special program designed for small family ranchers focused on quality, humane treatment and environmental sustainability of land, water and other natural resources.

The feed ingredients are tested to assure they have no man made chemicals or other potential contaminants. The animals are raised in clean conditions, inspected by the ranchers several times daily and every aspect of their handling is tracked by veterinarians with a focus on producing a healthy and wholesome product.

Our animals are also processed separately from commodity pork and chemically tested as additional assurance of a wholesome, high-grade product without chemical residues. We have visited the farms, feeds and processing plants and are proud to offer such a great tasting eco-friendly product. Additionally, we offer artisan raised Heritage pork breeds from local Tender Belly, as well as wild boar.

POULTRY

Our poultry farmers and products meet the same stringent standards as our beef and pork. Our chickens come from process verified and veterinarian run programs for eligible small family farms. These processes assure the hen houses, bedding, and feeds are all free from chemical or manmade residues, and that sound animal husbandry and treatment is always the rule. Our birds range freely in a protected and air conditioned environment, keeping them free from stress, predators, pests and the diseases of wild birds.

SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD

We committ to responsible seafood choices. Since before it was a marketing buzzword! We strive to buy from MSC certified fisheries, because we value the health of our limited, natural resources. We avoid unregulated fishermen and irresponsible farming practices, staying within US regulations and supporting US businesses. Tony’s visits Salmon Fishery in Alaska

Eco-Friendly Practices: LOCALLY SOURCED

Eco-friendly practicesSupporting local businesses has always been our priority at Tony’s and fallsunder our Tony’s Eco-friendly practices program. 60% of the products available at Tony’s Markets come from Colorado companies, while the remaining 40% is for the best products the world has to offer, such as 600-day-aged imported prosciutto, authentic Italian salumi, or fine French cheeses.

We buy all our in-season produce from local farmers, taking deliveries directly from the farms. In the off-season, we seek out local greenhouses to cut down on shipping emissions. Musso Farms in Pueblo has been growing most of our vegetables for over 20 years. In addition to Musso’s, we work directly with family operated High Country and Ela Family Farms (Certified Organic) for the majority of our fruits and vegetables.

Other local vendors are far too numerous to list, but include Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy, MM Local, The Women’s Bean Project, LoCo Foods, Jensen Foods, New Age Beverage, Two Leaves and a Bud, Stuff’n Mallows, The Real Dill and many, many more.

Celebrate Earth Day with Tony’s Eco-friendly practices program!

 

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