LAKEWOOD, Colo., April 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Earth Day is a great time to celebrate businesses that take action to care for and enhance the environment around us. This year Natural Grocers will feature and promote earth-friendly food vendors through a three-day celebration in stores and on the web to help increase awareness of the powerful stories behind the scenes of some of the company's top-selling products.

From April 21 – 23, Natural Grocers will feature eight product vendors that demonstrate exceptional environmental responsibility and provide high-quality products for consumers.

Featured vendors include:

• Alter Eco
• Equal Exchange
• Seventh Generation
• Pacific Foods
• Guayaki Organic
• Sweetwood Cattle Co.
• Wild Planet
• Ah Cacao

Featured stories will be available on the Natural Grocers' Facebook page.  In addition, customers can visit a Natural Grocers store from April 21 – 23 for special deals on products from each vendor.

"We go to great lengths to find products that truly embody our principles and resonate with what's important to our customers," said Kemper Isely, Natural Grocers' Co-President. "The vendors we've chosen for our Earth Day celebration stand out for their quality, social impact and dedication to healthy food, so we're very excited to share their stories with our customers."

Celebrate Earth Day with Natural Grocers on Saturday, April 22

Customers can visit a Natural Grocers store on Earth Day from noon to 4 p.m. to participate in a seed-planting activity. Earth Day customers will also receive a free Natural Grocers reusable shopping bag (while supplies last).

What makes Natural Grocers an eco-friendly company?

Natural Grocers implemented bag-free checkouts on Earth Day 2009. The company estimates over 200 million bags have been saved from landfills since it decided to do away with plastic and paper bags.

Natural Grocers stores feature a range of eco-friendly design elements. Some of these include:

• Domestic water heat reclaim
• Building materials free of formaldehyde
• Low water toilets
• Sustainable non-toxic construction materials
• Low-watt recirculating fans
• LED lighting
• Re-purposing existing buildings whenever possible

Additional eco-friendly practices at Natural Grocers include:

• Composting and recycling produce scraps*
• Only non-toxic cleaning and sanitizing products
• BPA-free cash register tape
• Recycling bulk food plastic bags
• Recycling pallets and plastic pallet wrap
• Recycling cardboard shipping containers
• Mixed recycling of cardboard, plastic, paper and aluminum*
• Providing free packing peanuts and bubble wrap for reuse to area residents*

And finally, Natural Grocers sells only 100% USDA certified organic produce, which supports sustainable agricultural practices. Some of the benefits of organic agriculture include:

• Enhancing ecological health and biodiversity on farms
• Sequestering carbon in the soil, helping to remove it from the atmosphere
• Eliminating the use of synthetic pesticides that are killing some of our most valuable pollinator insects such as honeybees
• Restoring the top soil and bringing back restorative factors such as earthworms and important microbes 

*Where available

About Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage

Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. (NYSE: NGVC; NaturalGrocers.com) is a rapidly expanding specialty retailer of organic and natural groceries, body care and dietary supplements. The company offers a flexible, neighborhood-store format, affordable prices and free, science-based nutrition education programs to help customers make informed health and nutrition choices. Founded in Colorado in 1955, Natural Grocers has more than 3,000 employees and operates 134 stores in 19 states.

SOURCE Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc.