I keep a running track of Google news alerts for retailers, and several have come up recently from our friends at Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans.
According to an article from The Syracuse Post-Standard, the company switched produce bags made from petroleum for ones made from plant-based plastic.
- In further efforts to reduce plastic usage, the company says:
- About half of the plastic shopping bags used by customers are returned to its recycling centers;
- Plastic shopping bags are comprised of about 40% recycled material from those returned bags;
- To-go containers use 40% less plastic than previous versions.
Food waste…into beer?
The company also is doing some fun things with food waste – and we're not talking vegetable soup and smoothies.
Just before Earth Day, in mid-April, Wegmans announced it partnered with Two Particular Acres, a 35-acre farm in Montgomery County, Pa., to provide compost from its diverted food scraps.
The farm, in turn, produces barley to make Sly Fox Circle of Progress Pale Ale, “a special-edition, small-batch beer made from barley malt composted with Wegmans food scraps,” according to a news release.
Currently, 75 Wegmans stores have programs to divert food scraps from landfill, and instead use them for livestock feed, or anaerobic compost digestion.
“The real advantage of partnerships like the one we have with Ned is that the benefits are broadly shared,” said Jason Wadsworth, Wegmans' manager of sustainability, in a news release. “The process is easier, safer and more efficient for our people.”
The beer is served at The Pub, an on-site venue at select Wegmans locations in Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York, and at The Burger Bar at Wegmans Pittsford and Canandaigua, N.Y., stores.