Food Service Sustainability - Martin Bros. Distributing

To that end, we have taken great efforts to conserve energy and natural resources by reducing harmful emissions from our food service supply operations.

Family recycling paper and plastic

Recycling

We recycle plastic shrink wrap, plastic containers, CHEP program-reusable pallets, wooden pallets, cardboard, paper, printer cartridges, cans, glass and other containers. Our City Carton cardboard and plastic recycling programs alone make important, positive impacts on the environment every year. In a single year, these efforts equate to saving about 2,300 trees, 950,000 gallons of water and 99,500 gallons of oil.

Martin Bros. Distributing warehouse with natural lighting

Reducing Energy Use

We work to reduce energy usage at our food service supply warehouse by using digital temperature and automatic lighting controls, peak usage monitoring and skylights in storage areas that use natural light.

Midwest highway

Transportation

Our goal is to reduce fossil fuel use by setting routes that optimize the quickest and most precise travel times and distances to delivery locations, using UPS’s Roadnet® system. We also use “green” carrier cooling units and Super Single tractor tires. The cooling units run off electric motors for periods of time to save fuel and the tires help save fuel and reduce consumption.

Martin Bros. food service pallet with onions

Facilities and Equipment

When we clean and maintain our food service equipment and facilities, we only use environmentally friendly cleaning solutions to ensure we do not contribute to groundwater pollution. We also use biodegradable fluids in all equipment on our docks, and we ship most of our products to our customers on reusable plastic pallets that may be cleaned for reuse. We’re also a member of the CHEP program, which means about 65 percent of our wood pallets are returned, washed, sanitized, reused and eventually recycled to be used in other business segments.

Eco-friendly printer

Printing

The majority of our forms, brochures and fliers are available as electronic documents to prevent the overuse of paper in printing and DISH! magazine is Forest Stewardship Council certified.

free range farm

Vendor Sustainability

Our vendors believe they have a responsibility to take care of our planet, too. Find out more about what some of our vendors are doing to support sustainability.

Learn More

Ready to partner with Martin Bros. to enhance your business?

Get Started Now

Download Dish!

Dish! is a magazine where you can find trends, tips, products, ideas, savings, tools and much more. Look for both general foodservice topics and content specific to your segment.

Dish! Foodservice Solutions by Martin Bros. magazine