Trinchero Family Estates was recently awarded the premier California Sustainable Winegrowing Leadership Award Green Medal for their company-wide business leadership, recognizing a history of smart resource use going back nearly 70 years. When the Trinchero family purchased the Sutter Home winery in 1948 they began a tradition of recycling that included purchasing, washing and reusing bottles from neighboring wineries. Kevin LeMasters, VP of operations, says, “It was their way of recycling without even thinking about it.” Among its many sustainability innovations, the company’s waste reduction and diversion efforts have been particularly notable. They have achieved 80-90% diversion across their facilities in St. Helena and Lodi.

Trinchero Family Estates has made waste reduction a part of the company-wide DNA, recycling more than 2,000 tons of material – including glass, plastic and paper – each year. Imagine nearly 900 Teslas getting carried to the landfill – that’s the equivalent weight in materials that Trinchero diverts annually. They carefully track waste and diversion at each facility and even hired a solid waste sustainability coordinator to help them zero in on zero waste. LeMasters notes, “Landfills are not an asset – they are a waste of good land.”

A critical aspect of Trinchero’s success is communicating with suppliers about their sustainability commitments and ensuring they will take back and reuse pallets, drums, shipping boxes and packaging. They’ve also identified vendors who recycle industry-specific waste like corks, capsules and containers.