Environmental Sustainability

Honest Weight's triple bottom line of People, Planet, Profit, requires that we look at the impact of our actions and purchases on our community, economy, and environment. Below are are some of the ways we strive to minimize our environmental impact. 

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE

• We reclaim the heat generated by our refrigeration system to preheat water going into the store’s water heaters. This allows for less energy to heat the water. It goes into the tanks at around 120 degrees and only has to be heated up to 141 degrees.
• When building our new store on Watervliet Avenue, we put in a porous parking lot. In addition to reducing runoff, permeable paving effectively traps suspended solids and filters pollutants from the water.
• We used only indigenous plants in our landscaping around the store.
  We source our electricity and natural gas through Blue Rock Energy, an alternative energy supplier based out of Syracuse.
• By sparing no expense on the insulation in the store, we reduce heating and cooling costs and save energy.
• Our roof was built with extra supports for potential future use as a green roof or to house solar panels, exciting possibilities that ran over budget in the first iteration of our store’s buildout!

WASTE REDUCTION

• We keep anywhere between 13,000 and 16,000 pounds of food waste from going into landfills each month through our partnership with a composting company, Empire Zero.
• We recycle around 18,000 pounds of cardboard each month.
• We save wax boxes for reuse by our farmers. These boxes cannot be recycled and would otherwise be thrown into a landfill. This also minimizes overhead costs for our local farmers- the boxes cost anywhere from $4 to $8 each!
• Our huge Bulk Department is a bastion of waste reduction. By selling items in bulk, we reduce the need for extraneous packaging during shipment. The EPA reports that Americans generate about 80 million tons of waste from packaging and containers each year. If every American opted for bulk for one month, we’d save more than 26 million pounds of packaging waste from landfills.
• Free cull produce is made available to member owners and donated to food pantries whenever possible. Cull bread is also donated to food pantries.
• We boast 4,200 local products from close to 600 local vendors and producers. About a quarter of our annual sales are of local products. The shorter an item has to travel to get to us, the lower the impact on our air quality from greenhouse gas emissions.

PACKAGING & MATERIALS

• We offer a paper bag made with 100% recycled content and reuse shipping boxes for grocery pack out.
• The Coop Scoop is printed on recycled paper with soy ink.
• The take-out boxes in the Deli are made of FSC certified 100% recycled unbleached paper and printed with water-based inks.
• Our coffee and soup cups are made of chlorine-free paper and printed with water-based inks.
• The plastic-seeming cutlery in the deli is actually compostable!
  Co-op branded clothing is made and printed in the USA, reducing carbon emissions from overseas printing (and supporting fair labor practices)