Food for Thought

How do you Reduce/Reuse/Recycle your packaging?

If you’ve been in recently, you may have noticed our new wooden shelves, courtesy of our friends at Willow Creek Barn Wood Furniture. These lovely displays created with reclaimed barn wood got us thinking about packaging on the products sold in the Market. In particular, how might the packaging be repurposed? (Think using egg cartons to start garden plants in the spring). And, how does the packaging influence what people buy?

Although most of our producers are sustainability-minded, some opt for plastic to package their products for a variety of reasons including:
–Cost-effectiveness. Bottling machinery can be costly, often running into the 5-6  figure range depending on what you’re bottling. Plus, add in the cost of gas/electric/propane required to run the equipment.
–Freshness. The cheeses we carry are packaged in plastic, which helps ensure the product stays fresh during travel and on the shelves. Plastic wrapping also protects many produce items from drying out, think lettuce and other greens.
–Transportability. Plastic is lighter than glass, and is therefore less expensive to transport. Although everything at Edinboro Market comes from within 150 miles of Edinboro, our producers are still responsible for getting their products to us and product weight impacts their gas mileage.

We are happy to partner with our producers to incentivize the reuse of glass containers by including deposits in the purchase price. This way, our producers can reuse containers which allows them to avoid purchasing single-use plastics and reduces waste overall. Here’s a reminder of our products with deposits:
-Pot ‘O Gold Milk bottle ($3)
-DODO Yogurt jars ($0.50)
-Conscious Food Project jars ($0.50)
-Raintree Farms Frozen Blueberry jars ($0.50)

We are curious to know if, and how, product packaging influences your purchasing choices! Tell us about it the next time you stop in.

Recipe Corner

Other than the obvious DIYs for goat milk (yogurt, cheese, etc.) there are many sweet and savory ways to transform your milk. We also love how many home and body-care products you can make with it, including face and body soap, lotion, and lip balm! This article from morningchores.com is a great resource with links to how to make all of these items and more! And in case your DIY goes awry, we also carry goat milk soaps by Al-By Farm and Copley’s Fresh Start Farm. 🙂