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Small Bites December 2, 2021 (updated w a correction) dedicated to creating opportunities to promote & sell more VT products to more buyers

Are you a food manufacturer or store looking to move away from plastic or multi-layer metal & plastic packaging? Reach out to us, we want to hear from you.

Yikes. Whoa. Yowzah. A recent article in WAPO reports that globally, the USA contributes more plastic waste than China (with a population of 4.35 times the US; said another way 1.44 billion vs 331 million). We discard more than twice that of all the European countries combined. Our waste has been tabulated as 289 pounds of waste per person, per year.   After 50 years of plastic build up it is estimated by researchers that "between 1.13 million to 2.24 million metric tons of the United States’ plastic waste leak into the environment each year. About 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean a year, and under the current trajectory that number could climb to 53 million by the end of the decade."   In every sector of our economy, businesses look for easy manufacturing, longer shelf life, "product integrity", & reduced shipping weights. Those are a few reasons we have so much plastic on our store shelves. Corporations have pushed the idea of convenience & profitability without thought of the waste stream. We just "throw things away" but what is "away" anyway?   Going forward we must ask what can our food producers, distributors & retailers do to decrease our dependence? Alternatives are said to be costly. What is the price we are currently paying to the environment? Shoppers are calling for more action to impart change. Let's all work on this. It is well past time.   Below (& in future issues) read about VT business efforts to reduce environmental costs by replacing plastic with alternatives across our supply chain. Tell us how you are making changes to reduce plastic.

Packaging & Shipping Garuka Bars, built their business on the value proposition that creates a quality product with as little "waste- impact" as possible. That said, every food business that grows, revisits prior decisions to uphold their ethos.   They learned the original "compostable" clear film was not meeting their goals. They switched packaging while having to consider food safety, "production wrapping time", product integrity & to increase the ability to be recycled.   Multi-layered metalized product wrapping (a plastic-aluminum layering process that is not recyclable) contributes to the waste stream. Most energy bars found on store shelves are made of the blend to extend shelf life. Garuka's choice away from multi-layered films upholds its values to make a product where customers can recycle the wrapper & the product maintains its integrity. (Feeling academic? Read more on multi-layer packaging so prevalent in food businesses)   In their now-famous Care Packages, they use no plastic shipping material but instead use paper shredded & available at ULINE. Next up for Garuka, the purchase of a small industrial scale cardboard shredder. They will shred boxes delivered to them from their suppliers reducing waste & ultimately saving money. BTW- their care packages are loaded with VT products & can be sent to your hardworking staff (friends or family too) as a fun end-of-the-year treat for jobs well-done. This is a limited offering, grab them soon!  This picture is representative of non-recyclable & non-reusable packaging on the energy bar shelves at stores. Garuka is in the center alone among the multi-layer plastic & metal packaging. We just HAVE to share this! Pajamas are a huge seller for holiday gift giving. Catch these matching jammies from Wayward Goose Farm! It is a chance to slow you down & enjoy the season. Elmore Community Market The retooled community market has new store operators. Kate Gluckman & Mike Stanley will be running the Elmore Store. Having grown up in Morrisville, Kate is familiar with the community & knows the important role the store plays for everyone who lives & visits the area.   In partnership with the Elmore Community Trust, Mike & Kate hope to build on the powerful 36 year legacy of the previous owners to serve the area with delicious food, friendly faces & a community-focused approach to business. It has long been a gathering spot, post office, & place to eat while meeting up with neighbors. 2022 looks to be an exciting time for the renovation & recalibration of the old general store.  New Packaging for an "Old" Favorite Venetian Ginger Ale switches to cans away from glass (& they have never used plastic containers). Glass is getting harder for them to source & has far less end markets for the recyclable life." In shipping, glass is heavy contributing to a larger share of carbon per shipment. This small-batch ginger ale is a treat all year, but it makes for some fabulous non-alcohol drinks during this season. It is one of our favorite mixers for holiday cheer. Catch the recent story from WCAX December means specialty dairy products in Vermont. Seasonal favorites from small dairies across the state are sought by stores of all sizes. Small-batch ice cream & eggnog from Strafford Organic Creamery (always shipped in glass!) are a hit throughout the state. While the Miller Farm also an organic dairy & located in Vernon, is cranking on their seasonal cream-line eggnog. The Putney General Store wasted no time bringing it in! Miller Dairy primarily serves southern Vermont.

Keeping it Local: Holiday Gifts "Staff Picks" for gift giving take many forms: social media posts, in-store signage & thoughtful displays of selected local artisan & food products as seen at Sweet Roots Farm Market. Farm stores highlight products made from their community which can act as "gateway" retail options for emerging producers. They of course also offer their own farm-made products. At Wayward Goose Farm Market in West Pawlet they make & sell their own decorative wreaths & support many local producers with front of the shop displays. This self operated store has a local fan base which looks to them for gifts as well as food staples, including their fresh A2A2 grassed milk. Meanwhile across the state in the Upper Valley, Farm to Plate Network partner Vital Communities through many channels, promotes the multiplier effect helping their community understand the importance of buying local products. Wayward Goose Farm Store features a front entrance display of local products across categories. Farm stores always enhance sales when local items are focused & well displayed. This holiday season, The Genny is introducing gift boxes. It's great to see they too are using a shredded paper filler in place of plastic shipping material. Also, the Bee Love Herbal products featured in the Spa Box use glass containers & do not incorporate multi-layered aluminum & plastic packaging. These decisions have impact. Every step we take to reduce use of plastic matters in our collective over-use of plastic. Shop the The Genny Gift Store for the full line of curated boxes to send to your friends, family, & staff. Order now because we all know shipping is a bit of a headache this year. Open coolers are great for specialty cheese sales but are hard on energy use Looking to Increase Electricity Efficiency? Grid Fruit is an energy efficiency startup focused on food stores in Southern Vermont. The team uses artificial intelligence software to improve efficiency & reduce fuel-burning generation on the grid by balancing refrigerators & freezers across grocery stores, distributors & other high energy food businesses. The team is passionate about sustainability & keeping food fresh while giving store owners new insights & real-time updates on their equipment. They are working with Efficiency Vermont & Green Mountain Power on their initial projects to help Vermont coops & general stores become more energy efficient. Contact Grid Fruit for details on this new VT program. Speaking of energy: It takes more energy to mine & produce aluminum than any other metal. The energy it takes to make 4 soda cans is equivalent to filling 1 of these cans with gasoline.  2 percent of the world's energy use is spent on producing aluminum.  Producing from recycled cans only takes 5 percent of the energy needed to produce new aluminum. Supply Chain: Quote of the Week "Communication is the key. Give your clients & distributors plenty of notice & relevant information. We have been told that in today’s environment. 'Bad news given early is actually good news' That is why we tend to over inform as quickly as possible. No one likes surprises. " -Peter of Mclure Packaging regarding food manufacturers' price increases across the supply chain in these uncertain times. Learn about Vermont's Local Food Definition. Interested in the regional foodshed? Sign up for NE Food Systems quarterly newsletter.

AGH Fulfillment, a local e-comm shipping service,  gave us a late-breaking update on their switch to in-house cardboard shredding: "Some of our clients only want us to use this recycled cardboard as padding   instead of plastic bubble wrap. Instead of having to pay Casella to haul away a mountain of cardboard, we can repurpose the cardboard into something we can use to pack almost everything from maple syrup to shoes to skis. Feedback from our customers is very positive." Great to hear this is win-win. You can scope out their shredder here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqMNJWcdP1Q

Check out the Small Bites archive filled with VT products, store merchandising, distributor updates & training resources.

To all the contributors this week, thanks for the great conversations! It is great to be back. Be proactive & share your business news with me, so I can share it with the network. Small Bites comes to you via a USDA grant. Content is created for farmers, food manufacturers, distributors, grocers, & anyone else interested in how food moves Contact: Annie H Harlow smallbites802@gmail.com  Unless otherwise noted, photo credits are from company social media, websites or Annie Harlow