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Biodegradable Packaging for Our New Sliced Watermelon 

Sliced watermelon in biodegradable packaging

 

You’ve probably noticed that Honest Weight isn't your average grocery store. We're one of around 150 cooperatively-owned grocers in the United States, governed through democratic process by our Member-Owners (shareholders who commit an investment of their time to the Co-op on a weekly or monthly basis).

Being a co-op ensures a certain level of accountability, but at Honest Weight, we take it a step further with our People, Planet, Profit triple bottom line. Every big and little decision that we make should take into consideration the impact on the health and economy of our local community, the community of producers that grow and create the goods we buy and sell, and the environment, from use of chemicals to miles travelled.

We strive to be accountable to that mission, while meeting the needs of our shareholders, employees, member-owners and shoppers. As you might imagine, this isn't always easy! Everyone has different values within the overarching value system of local, nutritious foods and supporting a cooperatively owned, independent local grocer. But we do our best, so when a few shoppers noticed that our new sliced watermelon was served up on Styrofoam trays and brought it to our attention, we quickly remedied it—

  • We ordered biodegradable trays. These present a certain set of complications: the plastic wrap doesn't stick to them, and they are more than twice the cost of Styrofoam trays. But as we know, cost isn’t just about money, and sometimes doing the right thing takes extra effort.
  • We donated the remaining Styrofoam to a conventional grocer in our neighborhood

We have a couple systems in place for folks to submit their feedback, positive and negative, anonymously or not. Drop us a line here, sent us a message through our Facebook page, or leave an anonymous comment in our store’s Suggestion Box—responses are sought out and submitted by one of our dedicated Member-Owners and posted to the bulletin board in the Café.

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