Rubicon Pioneers the Zero-Waste Future of the Grocery Sector

Rubicon Technologies, Inc. (“Rubicon” or the “Company”) (NYSE: RBT), a leading provider of software-based waste, recycling, and fleet operations products for businesses and governments worldwide, today shared an update regarding the Company’s leadership in implementing zero waste programs within its customer portfolio of grocery stores and supermarkets.

Accomplishing zero waste is a challenging task for organizations of all kinds due to the complexity and specificity of their operations. This complexity is particularly pronounced in the grocery category due to the range of materials in scope and their use within store processes.

In Rubicon’s 2023 Corporate Citizenship Report, the Company highlighted its work with one of the largest supermarket chains in the country which saw 141,745 tons of material diverted away from landfills in 2022 alone. This represented a diversion rate of more than 80%, up from 62% at the inception of the partnership in 2016. Through continuing to partner with Rubicon, the supermarket chain has committed to reach a 95% diversion rate by 2025.

Rubicon’s multi-phased approach, known as “Sustainable Materials Management” (SMM), involves the evaluation and reduction of a customer’s waste stream to its smallest achievable volume by adopting upstream sustainable business practices and downstream waste reduction and recovery methodologies—all while identifying opportunities to reduce operating costs, maximize commodity revenue, minimize environmental impact, and ensure brand protection.

“Using Rubicon’s structured approach to zero waste, our grocery clients can anticipate a consistent push toward sustainability and a high-percentage diversion rate,” said Ryan Cooper, Vice President of Circular Economy Solutions at Rubicon. “With our continued efforts and innovations, we’re helping to transform our customers’ operations and set new industry benchmarks. Together, we’re creating a future where waste is not just reduced, but intelligently repurposed for the betterment of our communities and the planet.”

Unlike traditional waste management processes that prioritize landfilling waste and recovering a small number of high-value commodities, Rubicon’s differentiated “Integrated Solutions Methodology” takes a total-system approach that not only looks downstream at the waste generated, but also looks upstream at the specific points-of-generation and the processes, operational directives, and waste management policies that generate that waste. This approach allows the Company to develop an end-to-end program for each customer that identifies material sources, candidates for elimination, and opportunities to combine material types when available. The result of Rubicon’s process is a more effective, longer-range strategic plan and better diversion outcomes.

Demand from waste generators for zero waste programs continues to grow as their sustainability goals evolve and expand over time through both internal pushes and external forces including state and local regulations. Rubicon’s mail-back program, conducted in partnership with g2 revolution, helps companies properly manage their regulated or hard-to-recycle waste materials by providing easy-to-use containers, a simple mail-back process, and transparent landfill diversion reporting.

Rubicon has been at the forefront of the push for zero waste since the Company’s founding, as shown in its work with retailers outside the grocery category including helping a specialty retailer reach TRUE zero waste certification at its reverse logistics center in California, and its recent work with industry leaders using asphalt shingles, mushrooms, and mycoremediation technology to reduce construction and demolition waste in order to produce a sustainable and reusable product to create a more circular economy.

For more information on how Rubicon is deploying its market-leading technology products to equip businesses, local governments, and haulers with the tools and software they need to support zero waste programs, improve recycling rates, and meet sustainability goals and regulations, visit the enterprises, governments, and haulers pages on the Company’s website.

About Rubicon

Rubicon Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: RBT) is a leading provider of software-based waste, recycling, and fleet operations products for businesses and governments worldwide. Striving to create a new industry standard by using technology to drive environmental innovation, the Company helps turn businesses into more sustainable enterprises, and neighborhoods into greener and smarter places to live and work. Rubicon’s mission is to end waste. It helps its partners find economic value in their waste streams and confidently execute on their sustainability goals. To learn more, visit rubicon.com.

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