Chipotle Achieves 51% Diversion Rate in 2020

(Credit: Chipotle Mexican Grill)

by | Apr 16, 2021

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(Credit: Chipotle Mexican Grill)

Chipotle Mexican Grill says it achieved a 51% diversion rate through recycling, composting, and waste-to-energy programs in 2020. Chipotle says it will continue to expand its waste diversion methods, including its Gloves to Bags program, which transforms used plastic gloves into trash bags in partnership with Revolution Bag, and its Avocado Dye Line, an open-looped collection of apparel dyed with upcycled avocado pits from Chipotle restaurants.

Chipotle plans to reduce overall waste by another 5% by 2025, compared to a 2020 baseline.

The company also saved an estimated 65,000 megawatt hours of energy, offset 3,875 tons of carbon emissions, and purchased about 22% of its electricity from renewable sources in 2020, according to its latest sustainability report.

In March, Chipotle Mexican Grill went public with its intention to tie executive compensation to its environmental, social and governance (ESG)  goals. The company introduced an ESG metric that will hold its executive leadership team responsible for making business decisions that prioritize corporate responsibility. Ten percent of the annual incentive bonus for officers will be tied to the company’s progress toward achieving those ESG goals.

Chipotle is one of a handful of fast food restaurants that are monitoring the environmental impacts of their business as a way of appealing to environmentally conscious consumers, according to the Orange County Register. The company is making some environmental impact data available to consumers via its app. The feature, called Real Footprint, calculates the ingredients in a customer’s order and shows the specific positive environmental impacts of that particular order, compared to a similar, more “conventional” order.

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