Global, not local & they don't recycle

   

I've been watching with amazement the mega Whole Foods phenomenon that is racing across the planet. They are crafty, managing to globalize and market the local & fresh food idea, giving you the feel of a fresh local market in a true feel good environment. But its really more about paying quarterly dividends to their investors. Go inside. It smells nice, looks nice, feels local. It ain't local. They are global. They have 54,000 employees.

If you believe that the local food movement is a key to sustainable future, I'm not sure you'll support that at Whole Foods.

This all came up last week. We stopped by our nearby Whole Foods to buy some food for lunch. We were close by and hungry. We ate in and when we were done, we noticed after some searching, there weren't any type of recycling bins or cans. We asked a few employees (who were very nice) and they did confirm, no recycling. I thought that was odd. They've made no promise to do so, but I guess it seemed implied in their carefully crafted brand.

Then I went to the website back at the office, and wait...they do promise.

"We Promote Environmental Stewardship

We see the necessity of active environmental stewardship so that the earth continues to flourish for generations to come. We seek to balance our needs with the needs of the rest of the planet through the following actions:

• Supporting sustainable agriculture. We are committed to greater production of organically and biodynamically grown foods in order to reduce pesticide use and promote soil conservation.
• Reducing waste and consumption of non-renewable resources. We promote and participate in recycling programs in our communities. We are committed to re-usable packaging, reduced packaging, and water and energy conservation.
• Encouraging environmentally sound cleaning and store maintenance programs."

Hey! What gives? Isn't basic container recycling sort of Enviro Stewardship 101? Anyway it just bugged me. 

I'd been reading Bill McKibben's Deep Economy, which is a must read for any sustainability freaks out there, and then we went to lunch and we couldn't recycle our lunch containers. Bad timing I guess. It just made the store seem fabricated. Ingenuous. disappointing.

Chock one up for slick marketing .

DO you shop there? fine. But is there a local merchant in your town with a similar offer?  Are they doing a good job keeping it local, fresh and interesting? Stop by tonight and tell them so with your wallet.

CZ