The focus this week is on long time, local retailer Gary’s Foods and their involvement in sustainability-regionally and locally.
If you are an Alliant Energy customer, you probably know about that utility’s interest in renewable energy, including wind generators and solar power. Alliant’s most recent efforts this summer involve their development of a solar garden in southwest Cedar Rapids. Storage batteries are already installed on site with the plan to have solar panels installed by late summer 2023.
Our locally owned Gary’s Foods, along with AEGON Asset Management, Cedar Valley Habitat for Humanity, Transamerica and Greater Cedar Rapids Foundation, have joined other organizations and individuals in purchasing solar blocks or shares in the project. When completed, the solar garden, at maximum energy, will produce 4.5 megawatts of power from it’s 18,000 solar blocks or enough to power 3600 homes. Gary’s store manager, Peter Dietrich, was quoted in The Gazette regarding his purchase of 126 solar blocks to provide 10% of his store’s energy, “I’ve always wanted to do similar projects. Solar and other alternative ways of doing electricity would help everybody in the whole world, and our bottom line, too.”
Locally, Gary’s Foods is very involved in disposable plastic bags for grocery take out. This process has evolved through the years, from paper bags, to plastic bags, to adding reusable cloth bags as customer demand warranted. Now Gary’s customers desires have evolved to almost all plastic bags with few customers bringing in their own reusable cloth bags. Did you realize that your disposable plastic bags (and bread bags, water softener bags) can be returned to Gary’s and added to the bin labeled “Build with Bags”? This is a program sponsored by IGIA (Independent Grocers of Iowa/America, to use these bags for outdoor park benches, chairs or tables. These bags are recycled in the state, built into outdoor furniture, and grants are available to get this outdoor furniture for public places and for non-profits. A bonus is that our own Denny Dietrich is part of the grant awarding group so your chances of acceptance are good. This program keeps these bags out of landfills. Have you ever driven down a road in a newly traveled area and seen plastic bags in the tops of trees or in cyclone fence lines? That’s a good sign that there is a landfill nearby from which these bags are blowing from. Put those plastic bags to good use by recycling for a cause.
DID YOU KNOW…Gary’s Foods goes through about 2,500 plastic bags a day or 17,500 per week? Yes they are probably the biggest retailer in town that uses these bags. Many other retailers in town use similar plastic bags, just not in these quantities. Can you believe that number? Gary’s used to give a credit to customers when they brought in their own bags but do you have to be rewarded for just doing the right thing? How many reusable cloth bags do you have in your car or in your garage now? Do you always grab them before you buy groceries or go into other retail shops? Don’t forget to use them.