In Green Packaging, Corn Replaces Petroleum

Wild Oats Markets Inc. became the first grocery store in the United States to roll out a new type of green packaging which looks like plastic but turns into compost after disposal. Unofficially called the Corntainer in the natural food chain's 11 Pacific Northwest stores where it is being tested, the clear packaging is made from corn rather than petroleum.

Employees have been dishing up salads, cheese, desserts, and other deli products in the containers for the last three weeks and touting the product in the stores' marketing brochures.

Wild Oats is also giving consumers the option of returning the containers to its stores, from where it will subsequently be delivered to a recycling company in Oregon. The containers will be composted and made into organic soil, which will then be sold at its stores.

"The response has been fantastic," said Mark Cockcroft, regional marketing manager at Nature's, the Northwest unit of Wild Oats. By the fall, the company plans to roll out the container nationally to 77 stores. Although the product costs 40 to 50 percent more than plastic packaging, Wild Oats is not passing the extra cost on to the customer. It expects the price will come down as the product becomes more widespread.

(Source: Environmental Network News)

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