Sustainability

Detroit -- Whole Foods Market on Wednesday is scheduled to open a 21,506-sq.-ft. store in Detroit, in the city’s Midtown neighborhood. The store, which is smaller than the chain’s typical footprint, features an expanded lineup of private-label products and lower prices designed to appeal to more budget-conscious shoppers, according to various reports.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has launched the Food Waste Challenge to encourage people to reduce, recover and recycle food waste. 

The Food Waste Reduction Alliance, made up of leading food retail, food manufacturing and foodservice companies, issued the following statement:

Three Scotts Miracle-Gro board members resigned following the delivery of a unanimously supported reprimand of CEO Jim Hagedorn that stemmed from the use of inappropriate language. 

Hagedorn apologized in a statement.

"While I have a tendency to use colorful language, I recognize my comments in this case were inappropriate and I apologize," Hagedorn said. "I, along with the rest of our board members, consider the matter resolved and I have made a personal commitment to prevent a future recurrence."

STRATHAM, N.H. — Timberland has released its 2012 CSR performance data, showcasing the company's sustainability efforts for that year.

Among those efforts were the following:
•    39% of materials used in Timberland-branded apparel were derived from recycled, organic or renewable sources
•    98% of footwear SKUs used leather sourced from gold or silver rated tanneries

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Seventh Generation, a leading green brand which has championed sustainability for 25 years, has acquired New York-based Bobble, a leading brand in the reusable, self-filtering water bottle category. 

SEATTLE — Paladino and Company (Paladino), a sustainability and green building consulting firm, has been selected as a winner of Verizon’s 2013 Supplier Recognition Award in the green and sustainability category. The award was given in recognition of Paladino’s overall green strategic focus and longtime partnership in Verizon’s retail store volume program, which resulted in 71 Verizon Wireless stores becoming LEED certified in 2012 and more than 130 total LEED certifications through the end of 2012.

MOLINE, Ill. — Deere & Company has elected Cargill CEO Gregory R. Page to its board of directors. Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services. 

Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the privately held company employs about 140,000 people in 65 countries and has annual sales of more than $130 billion.

New York -- The International Council of Shopping Centers announced that David J. LaRue, president and CEO of Forest City Enterprises, has been elected by ICSC’s Board of Trustees to serve as the association’s chairman for the 2013–2014 term.  

LaRue assumed his role as chairman on May 20 during RECon, ICSC’s annual meeting in Las Vegas.  He succeeds Brad Hutensky, president and principal of Hutensky Capital Partners.