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A Director's
Chair
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Back to the Future
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by Ray Ratte
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When I was a young boy, I
can remember walking with my mother to the grocery store and coming
home carrying the groceries in paper bags and cardboard boxes. I
remember pouring a glass of milk out of glass bottles and drinking
water from the local reservoir out of the tap in the kitchen sink. Ahh,
those were the good old days. I really don’t want to turn the clock
back, but I do want to suggest that all of our progress may not really
be very progressive.
You may have guessed by now that I am writing about plastics. A number
of articles about plastics have focused my thinking on whether plastics
have made a positive or a negative impact on the earth and particularly
living things, animal and vegetable. I suspect scientists could
enumerate both positive and negative outcomes. And some
environmentalists would say they are a scourge on the planet and others
would say they are better than the alternatives available for packaging
and carrying.
When I look around my home and realize how much plastic I use, I am
shocked. All the food in my freezer is wrapped in plastic; most of the
wrapped or packaged food in my refrigerator is done in plastic. Most of
the food in my cupboards is wrapped in plastic, even the stuff I buy in
boxes. Every store in which I shop offers plastic bags to carry my
purchases. I really don’t know how we did it 60 years ago, but we did
and life was good.
I’m proud of what our Co-op has done to make alternatives to plastic
available. We have increased our offerings of various types of cloth
bags to carry groceries, to package produce and bulk items. I admire
the glass plates and non-plastic cutlery in the deli. When I am a
cashier, I love to charge for the plastic bags some customers choose to
use and to give credit to those who bring or purchase cloth bags to
carry their groceries. I am even thankful to those customers who choose
boxes over plastic. I thank our Collective Management Team for all they
are doing to reduce the use of plastics in our store and for using only
recycled plastic bags at check-out. I thank our Board of Directors for
deciding to research the issue of plastics so that we can inform our
members of the facts as best we can so that we can consider whether or
not we want to take action on its use in the Co-op. One large grocery
chain has already decided not to use plastic bags at check-out in its
stores. The U.S. Conference of Mayors has recently passed a resolution
urging all cities to stop the use of plastic water bottles in their
offices and other sponsored events. Do we want to do anything similar?
if so, where would we draw the line between necessary and unnecessary,
between practical and ideal.
The Board of Directors asked me to write this article to begin the
process of examining this issue. Will you begin that process along with
us? Where do you draw the line now? Would you be willing to consider
change in your use of plastics? What are you willing to start doing now
on your own? What might you be willing to do if viable alternatives are
made available? I think the new store will provide us the opportunity
to change more than the amount of space we have to sell goods or the
number of parking spaces we have available. It can also provide an
opportunity to examine our current practices and decide which changes,
if any, will help our new store bring us a step closer to fulfilling
our Co-op vision.
What is your vision for the Co-op? If you have some thoughts you would
like considered, please e-mail or write to any of the Board members who
are listed in this newsletter.
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