Lowcountry Grocery Stores Using Recycled Plastic Pallets
Some grocers are using recycled plastic pallets when shipping products to stores as a measure to help the customers, as well as themselves. Read more about this here.
Lowcountry grocery stores are going greener for customers — and themselves
By JIM FABER
jfaber@islandpacket.com
843-706-8137
Published Tuesday, May 27, 2008
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“Green grocer” is a term that once referred to a grocery store that sold only fruits and vegetables. But now, the term is starting to have a different meaning in the Lowcountry.
Take the Piggly Wiggly at Shelter Cove on Hilton Head Island, for example. After introducing reusable bags a few years ago to uninterested shoppers, the chain, which has a regional headquarters in Charleston, brought the bags back at the start of the year, said Bob Cook, operator of the Shelter Cove store.
This time it worked, he said. And efforts to persuade shoppers to bring back their plastic bags to be recycled caught on, too.
“We have a lot of people buying the (99-cent) canvas bags,” Cook said. “And a lot more people are bringing back bags (to recycle).”
Even tourists who shop in the store bring reusable bags, often bearing the logo of grocers who don’t have stores here.
Other simple, energy-saving steps that Piggly Wigglys have taken include removing neon signs, turning down the lights when the store is closed and hooking refrigeration units up to a central computer to monitor their effectiveness, Cook said.
Harris Teeter, the North Carolina-based grocer with two island stores, also offers 99-cent reusable bags and recycling for used bags. The company uses shopping baskets made from 100 percent recycled plastic, and recycled plastic pallets when shipping products to stores, according to
Jennifer Panetta, director of communications for the company.
Florida-based Publix, which has two stores on the island and one in Bluffton, has added 75 hybrids to its fleet of cars and light trucks. The grocer also uses recycled or recyclable packaging on all of its private label products, unless that would compromise food safety, according to Dwaine Stevens, a company spokesman.
The store also sells reusable bags.
North Carolina-based Food Lion, which has stores in Bluffton and on the island, has more than 725 stores that have earned the Energy Star designation for energy efficiency.
Company spokeswoman Karen Peterson and local employees couldn’t say for sure whether southern Beaufort County stores had that designation, but all remodeled stores in the chain are supposed to be updated to be more environmentally friendly.
The Bluffton store was recently remodeled.
Food Lion also sells reusable bags.
Fresh Market, the North Carolina chain with a store on the island, launched its 99-cent reusable bags in February. Previously, the store sold $9.99 canvas bags, which are still available, said Jennifer Foushee, a company spokeswoman.
The new 99-cent bags will be changed seasonally with a design appropriate to that season, she said.