The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company recently announced joining the US Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transport Partnership, a program that aims to reduce carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions.

The U.S. EPA SmartWay program includes targets for increasing the energy and fuel efficiency of its fleet to help save an estimated 33 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and 200,000 tons of nitrogen oxide emissions annually by 2012.

Companies join for a three-year period and begin by analyzing the efficiency of their operations using special software. Partners benchmark their operations, track their savings, and report yearly to EPA.

Stop & Shop has about 165 trucks that travel more than 17 million miles per year, and is joining the program with it’s sister chain, Giant Food.  Together, the two chains operate around 575 stores in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states.

“This is the right thing for us to do because we are serious about leaving a lasting legacy - a healthy planet - to our children and grandchildren,” said Jose Alvarez, chief executive officer of Stop & Shop and Giant.

Alvarez said that food transportation between distribution centers and stores is a vital and necessary component of its operations.

EPA launched the SmartWay Transport Partnership in 2004 to address the environmental and economic challenges surrounding growth in the freight industry.