Sammy of Shore Buddies talks Trader Joe's Phasing Out Plastic
Hi friends, Sammy the Seal here!
Trader Joe's has made a commitment to improve their packaging by replacing all single-use plastics and styrofoam trays with biodegradable, compostable alternatives!You all know that my tolerance for plastic in my home is a big 0! Too many times I’ve been swimming in the neighborhood and seen plastic bags and styrofoam cups float by. Sadly, some of my friends have even gotten sick from all the plastic hanging around. This is why I am SO EXCITED to share this news with you I heard about:
Trader Joe's spokesperson and representative released that “while most of the plastic in our packaging has the highest recyclability acceptance rate in the U.S., reducing the amount of plastic packaging in our stores is another important focus of our sustainability.”
This is for shore a huge swim in the right direction! I am so excited to see nationwide grocery stores taking a public stand to protect the ocean! Currently in all their stores country wide there’s no single-use plastic carryout bags, they have only biodegradable and compostable produce bags, and there's no styrofoam packages in the produce section but instead compostable trays! As my fellow Shore Buddy Finn would say, that's dolphinetly the right way to shop!
As amazing as they have been up to now about decreasing their plastic uses, they aren't stopping there! Still to come in their improvements are reducing items sold in plastic packaging such as bags of apples or potatoes, phasing out styrofoam trays in the meats department, replacing the plastic sleeves on greeting cards with compostable materials, swapping the plastic flower bags with renewable material, and phasing out plastic and foil pouches in tea packages.
“As we fulfill these steps in 2019, we are eliminating more than 1 million pounds of plastic from our stores. And we expect that number to grow as we continue to identify sustainable opportunities and take action.”
Those of us in the ocean are SO EXCITED! Imagine if other major grocery stores follow Trader Joe's lead! The ocean could be so much cleaner! Regardless, we need your help! If you go to the grocery store, opt for biodegradable bags over plastic bags. Check out the video below of how someone had a zero waste grocery haul a year ago! Before all the improvements were even in place!
Thank you for joining me in my excitement for plastic bags continuing to be eliminated! I can't wait to see what the future holds for the ocean! I'm Sammy the Seal, and as Trader Joe's says, “Thank you, we’re listening.”
To hear directly from Trader Joe's, visit https://www.traderjoes.com/announcement/packaging-improvements