Sustainability

Bulk Reset: Bring Your Containers!

| Bulk, Sustainability

Plastic. It really stinks. No seriously, since the pandemic started it has been growing in use and it is not a feasible long-term option for our Earth, oceans, people and animals to survive in a healthy manner. We at the Brattleboro Food Co-op want to do everything that is possible to decrease plastic use. Recently we revamped our Bulk department in an effort to offer more serve-yourself options for bulk food. The main goal was to reduce plastic consumption by allowing you to bring your own clean containers into the Co-op and fill them. Yes, we did the research and it appears that COVID-19 does not exist on surface areas for long periods of time and thus transmission is low if anyone is sharing a surface. We will continue to sanitize and keep the bins clean. However, we ask that you please sanitize your hands or wear gloves before you touch pens, bins and containers. Don’t forget that if you forgot your own containers please use paper bags to purchase bulk food.

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Alaffia: Love, Revolution and Empowerment in the 21st Century

Alaffia is a bodycare brand that exists not to make a profit but to fight poverty and increase gender equality. Olowo-n’djo Tchala and Prairie Rose Hyde met in 1996 in Togo, West Africa, when Hyde was there as a Peace Corps volunteer. They both grew up without much, though to differing degrees because of their countries of origin: Hyde’s family relied on assistance programs but she was still able to get a great education, while Tchala, one of 42 children (his father had multiple wives), had to drop out of school as an adolescent to help out his family. They married in the mid-90’s and moved to Olympia, WA, Hyde’s home town, and five years later they helped to form a shea butter cooperative in Tchala’s home, thinking they’d create jobs for women.

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Plastic Bag Recycling…Where Do They Go?

If you’re like me, you’ve probably wondered about the plastic bag recycling receptacle that has been living by our Co-op’s exit doors for the last few months.  The recycling industry has suffered in recent times, and it makes some of us have to ask: what is actually happening to these bags once they leave our store?  After all, – everything winds up somewhere, whether it’s in a , , or in .  

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