“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” –Jane Goodall
Visit the nut butter section of any given natural foods store, and you’ll find an enormous selection of products proclaiming to be “natural." However, if you take a closer look, a startling fact arises, most of these products are packaged in single-use plastic, even though a better alternative exists: glass. As a nearly zero-waste business, we are always looking for ways to make our footprint smaller, so the choice to jar in glass is an easy one, especially considering some of the facts about plastic packaging:
- A full 32% of the 78 million tons of plastic packaging produced annually is left to flow into our oceans; the equivalent of pouring one garbage truck of plastic into the ocean every minute. (earthday.org)
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It takes 500-1,000 years for plastic to degrade. (ecowatch.com)
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Virtually every piece of plastic that was ever made still exists in some shape or form (with the exception of the small amount that has been incinerated). (ecowatch.com)
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Plastic chemicals can be absorbed by the body—93 percent of Americans age six or older test positive for BPA (a plastic chemical). (ecowatch.com)
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40 percent of plastic produced is packaging, used just once and then discarded. (National Geographic)
Since 2013, we've sourced our custom glass jars from Arkansas Glass Company. They are recyclable and don't leach chemicals associated with some plastic containers. The jars are also reusable. They're the perfect size for on-the-go breakfasts: parfaits, smoothies, overnight oats, and chia puddings. You can use them to store homemade salad dressings and bulk spices, or as cocktail glasses. The options are endless!
Of course, nobody is perfect. Our bar wrappers still contain a microscopic layer of plastic. Unfortunately, no food safe compostable and/or recyclable wrapper options for our bars exist, but we are working with packaging companies to change that. Until we find a suitable option, we've reduced the amount of packaging each bar uses by 60% compared to the previous version.