Recycling is just another part of our CSA. We currently re-use about 30% of our packaging... including boxes, ice packs, egg cartons, glass jars and plastic clamshells. It does take some extra effort but when we look at the volume of would be trash that is finding a second use that makes alot of difference for our world and not something that your grocery store is willing to do.
Please keep in mind that our packing area is small and we have to be efficient and keep our packaging as standardized as possible to save space. This means we can only re-use packaging that we send out so those clamshells and egg cartons from the grocery store and not from our CSA need to find another home... out in the country we do not have ready access to recycling programs and so these non-standard items end up in the trash.
For our members we suggest that you open your box and after you put your items away just stick your empty egg cartons/ clamshells/ mason jars and defrosted ice packs (these can be left in the paper bags to keep things dry) back in the box and set it out for our driver to pick up on the next run. No need to remove labels and tape as this helps us to identify the box for our drivers.
