April 24, 2026 — As we celebrate Arbor Day, we recognize the important benefits that trees provide us all and highlight our continued collaboration with the Arbor Day Foundation to support greener communities through healthy forests.

Publix supports the Arbor Day Foundation’s efforts to rebuild critical forests throughout the states we operate in. Once covered by dense forests of longleaf pine, the Southeastern U.S. landscape had been significantly impacted by natural disasters and deforestation. These large-scale tree planting efforts help restore critical wildlife habitats and protect watersheds by reducing runoff. Improving the health of these ecosystems also helps to stabilize soils to prevent erosion and allows more groundwater to be filtered, reach aquifers and ultimately become drinking water. 

Publix contributes a portion of the proceeds from the sale of reusable bags — up to $250,000 annually — to help support the Arbor Day Foundation’s restoration efforts in damaged and degraded watersheds throughout Florida. Since 2016, these donations have supported the planting of 1.5 million trees across more than 2,300 acres in Florida alone.

In 2024, we launched our annual Good Together environmental campaign. Our third annual campaign is ongoing, running through April 26. The Arbor Day Foundation uses donations raised in our stores outside of Florida to plant trees to rebuild forests affected by deforestation and natural disasters in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. To date, 1.7 million trees have already been planted across these states thanks to the donations from our customers and associates.

“Publix is grateful for the continued support of the customers and associates who stand behind this important environmental effort,” said Director of Environmental and Sustainability Programs Paul Osley. “It’s another meaningful example of the impact we can make when we do good, together.”

Recent plantings and future plans

This year, our support of the Arbor Day Foundation through our annual donation from our sale of reusable bags will be used to plant an additional 250,000 trees in the Econfina Creek watershed, a once-thriving forest ecosystem in the Florida Panhandle that was devastated by Hurricane Michael in 2018. This year’s project will bring the number of trees we’ve planted in this watershed to 930,000, raising our total trees planted in Florida to 1.75 million. 

The work continues with more than 74,000 additional trees expected to be planted outside of Florida by the end of this spring to complete reforestation efforts from the 2025 Good Together environmental campaign.

Through these collective efforts, Publix and the Arbor Day Foundation have helped plant more than 3.2 million trees across our eight-state operating area to date, and we look forward to seeing these numbers — and our forests — continue to grow as new plantings occur.