Catching Up

Well, it has been a few weeks since my last post, so here goes an update on the status of Project Green.

I have returned to grocery shopping at Target.  I've found that most healthcare products are recyclable, and I can't really find green meat, cheese or bread anywhere at a reasonable price.  So, when we do buy meat, we purchase from behind the deli counter.  While the bags are still not recyclable, there is less plastic to them than what you get w/ prepackaged meat and cheese.

We are now using reusable produce bags in addition to our reusable grocery bags, after we learned that although the plastic bags in store say they are recyclable, they in fact are not.  The produce bags are pretty nifty ($5 for a pack of 3 at Lunds)! 

At work, I brought up the topic of green living in a team meeting, being that I work for a mass retailer.  I did a comp shop of the landscape, and found a report released by RILA (Retail Industry Leaders Association) on the 2012 sustainability landscape.  It showed that retailers are beginning to use eco-friendly options as both a way to save money on their own (less consumption = less energy costs) as well as to capitalize on a growing consumer trend.  However, I was very surprised to learn that my teammates believe that eco-friendly packaging and consumable goods is still not important to the general population, and so, retailers don't really need to provide eco-friendly options as of yet.  They said, it might be coming, but people really just don't care yet.

That was disheartening to me.  Knowing that most retailers in the guest facing realm leave assortment decisions up to individual teams and buyers, there is no large direction dictating the use of recyclable packaging or eco-friendly practices.  It is left up to each individual buyers discretion.  We won't see change if this continues to be the case.  I've decided to try to take on a new project at work instituting green thinking into merchandising culture.  I'll give updates if possible.

On the home front, I've gotten very crafty.  I have made coasters out of scrabble tiles, a clock out of paint chips and crackle paint, mini-polariod magnets, curtains, among other things.  Also up next on my list - headboard out of used wood, coffee table out of pallets and old license plates and an indoor herb garden out of empty kitchen containers (e.g. jelly jar).  While I've learned I generally suck at crafts, I'm getting better.  That's what I get for not taking an art class past the 5th grade.

That's all for now, folks.