BJ's Plants First of 1 Million Trees

BJ’s Wholesale Club began giving back something every community member requires last Thursday.

Oxygen.

A tree planted Thursday at BJ’s corporate headquarters on Research Drive kicked off the firm’s “Generation Grow”  One Million Tree Commitment.

BJ’s intends to plant one million trees by 2020, with the final one planted at the Westborough site.

BJ's used to be headquartered in Natick.

BJ’s President/CEO Laura Sen said the program will “help replace the oxygen that is essential to our existence here on earth, and to help replace the resources that are being quickly depleted by our human usage,” she said.

Consumers can support the program through BJ’s Generation Earth and Earth’s Pride brands, and donations to the Arbor Day Foundation, Sen said.

A number of initiatives are planned for the program, she said.

BJ’s Executive Vice President, Merchandise Chris Neppi said the million tree initiative formed during the development of BJ’s newest brand, Generation Earth.

“We knew we wanted to make a difference with this brand, and we were looking for an opportunity to make an impact – a big impact,” Neppi said.

“As it turns out, there’s a really big need for trees.”

Neppi said that “we’ve globally consumed more resources in the last 50 years than in all of history.”

“If we continue to consume resources at the current rate, we will need five earths to have enough natural materials to match our consumption,” Neppi said.

“That’s pretty scary.”

Arbor Day Foundation Corporate Partnerships Manager Todd Mattox said that with BJ’s support, “trees will be planted in traditional forests,” as well as distributed to areas affected by disasters.

BJ's employees received trees after Thursday’s ceremony.