Sustainable Packaging: Our Efforts at Publix

We are always looking for ways to improve our products and processes within our stores. Sometimes less is more, which is why it’s important for us to make sustainable decisions when it comes to our product packaging. Here at Publix, we have a team dedicated to achieving our mission to be responsible citizens in our communities and intolerant of waste. Learn about a few examples of how we are making packaging improvements to conserve resources and help our planet.

Bakery

Our bakery department made changes to its product labeling, and to the amount of paper used in packaging for items like muffins.

• Eliminated 35 million separate labels by consolidating date, price and product description information onto a single-scale label that acts as a security seal on the packaging.
• Reduced the amount of paper in our bakery muffin cups by 23%, saving 13,000 pounds of paper per year.

Deli

In the deli, our teams made some changes you might have seen when shopping with us. Did you notice the updated version of slider bags you get when you order your favorite sliced meats and cheeses?

• Reduced yearly use of plastic by more than 327,000 pounds by switching to a stronger, lighter plastic slider bag.
• Saved an estimated 35,600 pounds of plastic per year by installing cutlery stations at each of our deli counters, removing the need for plastic-wrapped cutlery sets.

Meat/Seafood

We even make changes to our shipment processes if it means making sustainable improvements!

• Eliminated more than 190,000 polystyrene foam containers and hard-to-recycle cardboard by switching to returnable plastic totes for our seafood shipments.

Other Improvements

• Saved more than 61,700 pounds of foam annually by replacing foam coffee cups with paper cups in our company break rooms and cafeterias.
• Saved 28,000 pounds of plastic by reducing the amount of material in our reusable wine bags.

Learn more about how we are making sustainable packaging changes across our company.