Earth Day 2024: Where You Shop Matters…
All bulk is not made equally, where you shop matters! This earth month, Planet vs. Plastics, let’s talk waste!
Did you know that the average California home fills up 65 – 95 gallons of trash each week? On average, Californians individually throw away six pounds of trash every day — that's 2,200 pounds each year, about the weight of a small car.
Our goal at Re-Up is to get everyone in your home their groceries… without all the waste. Along the way, our hope is to create a better grocery system, where waste is minimized, products are responsibly sourced, and consumers are informed about environmental and social issues.
Just in the same way we ask YOU to continue to reuse your containers every time you refill, we do the same with our suppliers, actively pushing and supporting them in improving their waste streams. This is what we refer to as circular, where vendors take back their containers, washing and reusing them. And although not every product in our store comes this way, we are proud to say that by volume, the overwhelming majority of our liquid products do — including all our laundry detergents, dish soaps, hand soaps, all purpose cleaners, cooking oils, vinegars, sweeteners, and so much more.
Did you know that often when you see kombucha on tap like with GT Dave’s, the kegs are made of throw away plastics that are hard to recycle? Not at Re-Up! We only sell our bulk Organic Kombucha from reusable stainless steel kegs that are picked up, washed, and reused every time. Thank you Brew Dr.!
Did you know that if you see bulk soaps at other local bulk grocery stores that after those containers are empty, they generally go into the landfill? Not at Re-Up!
For many of the other bulk products at the refill shop that aren't entirely circular, we work to minimize that waste stream internally… for example all of the 1 gallon plastic jugs on the shop floor that you see filled with our eco-friendly cleaning products are all repurposed from some of our shampoo / conditioner jugs that are not circular.
As a result, at the refill shop, we rarely fill our 32 gallon trash bin that gets picked up once a week. If Re-Up were a household, we would be producing three times less waste than an average household, but we happen to be providing groceries to over 1,500 unique customers a month : )
We are humbled to be a part of all of our collective waste reduction efforts. So keep it up and thanks for all your continued support at the refill shop! Not only does it mean a great deal to us, it means a greater deal to our collective waste stream.
To better understand what actually gets recycled, check out this helpful 10 minute video about recyclers and our current recycling system.
See You At The Shop,
The Re-Up Refills Team : )