by Brendon Smith, Marketing & Communications Director
Willy Street Co-op staff members and the Board have been interested in “minimizing our carbon footprint” decades before that became a term. From carrying sustainable products to composting to using solar panels, sustainability is a bedrock value for us. But, as we’ve learned with pursuit of diversity, equity, and inclusion, good intentions only go so far—and those good intentions can presume that we’ve gotten farther than we actually have and unwittingly conceal where we have work to do. As a leader from another grocery cooperative once said, “You improve what you track.” So, last year we selected some sustainability metrics to begin tracking.
Below we share the results and compare them to last fiscal year’s numbers (our fiscal years run roughly July through June each year). We’ve also updated this on the “Our Sustainability Measures” webpage, where you can also find some more information about steps we take to show our “Concern for Community”—Cooperative Principle #7—from an environmental perspective.
Since we’re talking about sustainability, I should also mention last August’s freezer and cooler upgrade at Willy East, which was in FY26 and whose effects aren’t reflected in the metrics below. Produce coolers, refrigerated grocery coolers, and grocery freezers were replaced with more energy-efficient versions, and you’ll see that reflected in the table below. These units also now use a type of refrigerant that has a significantly lower climate impact than what we had used previously.
Focus Area | FY24 Amount | FY25 Amount | Notes | Why Are We Tracking This? |
Electricity use | 2,850,090 kilowatt hours | 2,823,904 kilowatt hours | We aren’t quite sure of the reason for the lower electricity use, but that’s part of the reason we’re tracking these metrics—to try to find out! | Reducing electricity use (including through using LED lights, energy-efficient equipment, etc.) means less energy from coal-fired power plants as well as a lower energy bill. |
Natural gas use | 53,637 BTUs | 68,281 BTUs | There were a lot more heating degree day units in FY25 compared to FY24: 6445 vs. 5819, leading to a much greater need of natural gas. | Natural gas is mostly methane, a greenhouse gas, and is extracted via drilling and fracking. |
Water use; includes bulk water sales | 3,444,483 gallons | 3,491,168 gallons | We don’t know why there’s an almost 50,000 gallon increase in the last fiscal year, but we’ll look into it. Only about 2,000 of the gallons came from additional bulk water sales. | More efficient use of water for business uses keeps more fresh water for other uses. |
Refrigerant use | 365 pounds | 14 pounds | The reduction in refrigerant is largely due to improvements in maintenance of our refrigeration systems. | Traditional refrigerants harm the Earth’s ozone layer and can contribute to global warming. |
Solar power generated at Co-op sites | 26,910 kilowatt hours | 29,862 kilowatt hours | We believe most of this improvement is due to the addition of solar panels on the roof of Willy West last year. | We want to increase the amount of electricity we get from solar power rather than coal-fired power plants. (This amount does not include energy generated from the O’Brien Solar Fields.) |
Local product sales | $22,086,997 | $23,004,509 | We’re always working on increasing the number of local products in our stores! | More local food means less transportation for the food, less reliance on Big Food, and more money in our local economy. More information at willystreet.coop/local. |
Certified organic sales in Bulk, Meat & Produce departments | $1,631,807 | $1,713,397 | Part, although not all, of the increase here was likely due to inflation. | More organic food means fewer pesticides, and better land and water stewardship. |
Compost | 260,540 pounds | 160,711 pounds | We believe the reduction in compost amount is largely due to ending on-site juicing at our stores. | The most sustainable way to divert organic waste from landfills is to turn it into compost and use it to grow food! |
