Left to Right speakers: Brett Hulsey, Dane County Supervisor; Spencer Black, State Representative; Tim Metcalfe, President and Co-Owner Metcalfe's Sentry; Lisa MacKinnon, Project Coordinator, Dane County Clean Air Coalition and Adam Fink, Development Manager, Joseph Freed and Associates
Green Grocer Update
A new policy instituted by Metcalfe’s Sentry in Madison’s Hilldale Mall to go “idling free” garnered local, state and national news.
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| Left to Right: Spencer Black, State Representative; Brett Hulsey, Dane County Supervisor and Tim Metcalfe, President and Co-Owner of Metcalfe's Sentry |
Channel 3000 Reports that this is the first mall in Wisconsin and one of the first in the country to go "idling free;” semi-trailers will not be permitted to idle while crews unload.
Flanked by truck back logos from Country Hearth and Pepsi, TIM METCALFE, of Metcalfe Sentry, said semi-trailers at the mall idle for more than 120 hours per week. "If you compute that, that's about 1,300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year," Metcalfe said.
The Capital Times reported that Metcalfe heard about the amount of waste diesel trucks emit while idling, and decided to do something about it. He led a campaign to prevent idling trucks from spewing smog. “Outside of Metcalfe’s Sentry alone, we had trucks idling for a combined 15 hours every day. By simply requiring them to turn off their gas, we’re basically preventing nearly 110,000 pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere yearly,” he said.
Dane County Supervisor BRETT HULSEY helped Metcalfe develop the new initiative.
The change was heralded by WISC TV Editorial Editor NEIL HEINEN saying, “But what we really like about Metcalfe’s ongoing leadership in environmental stewardship is he didn’t wait for government to impose a ban. He saw the need…and he did what he knew was right. Clean air is just one more good reason to shop at Metcalfe’s Sentry. But it’s sound business leadership as well.”
The story was linked into USA Today as well as in the Editor’s Column in the Progressive Grocer and in PG’s blog, Aisle chatter.com as part of a Health & Wellness topic.