Ardkeen Quality Food Store is a well-known advocate of local and Irish producers, which comes with the additional eco-friendly benefit of lower food miles.
However, this is not our only green initiative as we view environmental sustainability an essential ingredient to doing business responsibly and successfully, and are accelerating the green transition with a comprehensive inhouse Sustainability Programme.
The most recent step forward in this plan is the installation of a 100KWp Solar PV Array consisting of 363 roof mounted panels, aided by SEAI funding. These panels will generate up to 100,000KWh of renewable electricity per annum resulting in a saving of 60,000kg of C02 annually.
The solar power technology is supplied and fitted by local company Enerpower, one of Ireland’s leading renewable energy companies with over 13 years’ experience in advanced energy technologies.
From the store floor to goods inwards we have been quietly forging a greener future, with a view to eliminating waste and supporting renewable packaging like our compostable coffee and juice cups, and the availability of compostable and paper produce bags. In the last 12 months the store has in fact doubled its waste recycling to 14 tonnes and in August we installed a new refrigeration plant with smaller and more efficient power requirements. As Ardkeen Quality Food Store advances into the second half of a century in retail you can expect even more efforts to reduce our carbon footprint which is great news for our local community and indeed the planet!
