Our Commitment to Conserving our Natural Resources
Our Commitment to Conserving our Natural Resources
Updated Summer 2019
Cardboard: Each year we recycle all of the cardboard we receive our products in. During a typical year we’ll recycle over 4 tons of cardboard. And we’re happy to report many suppliers are becoming much more aware of their use of carboard and are using recycled cardboard and reducing the overall amount of cardboard they use through innovative packing methods.
Newsprint and Kraft Paper: Some suppliers pack with these materials and we save them and reuse them in our packages going out to our customers from the store. There has been a sizable drop off in the use of these alternatives as new methods come available.
Styrofoam Peanuts: We prefer companies not to use these and we certainly have seen a dramatic decrease in their use. Many suppliers use corn-based starch peanuts that dissolve in water. We also see a strong trend towards using air filled bio-degradable packing balloons which are deflated when we unpack the product.
Glass, Office Paper and Aluminum: With Vermont’s Zero Sort recycling program, it’s very easy to recycle all of these materials. We estimate that we save over 2 tons per year of these materials from hitting the landfill.
Electricity: A decade ago we switched all of our lighting to CFL bulbs. We immediately saw a decrease in power usage along with our expenditure for electricity. In 2015, we began to convert to all LED bulbs to further our efforts at conservation and long-term electricity cost reduction.
Travel: In 2019, we began a program of offsetting our travel to trade shows by contributing to a conservation fund that trades carbon offsets. We have also reduced the number of shows we attend and use on-line shows and portals to see new products and place orders.