Hi all, my name is Jane, I’m the new Sustainability Coordinator as well as a student at Keene State College.As we dive into 2024, I’m thrilled to share our accomplishments from 2023 and our plans for the year ahead. One of the store’s many accomplishments from 2023 was increasing our waste diversion rate by 3%! We are currently hovering around a 47% diversion rate for our in-store waste. This means about half of all the waste we encounter before the products are available on shelves, as well as other waste produced within the store, is redirected away from landfills and into recycling and refining programs and commercial composting! Starting this month, we will be increasing the amount of organic waste we are able to compost, further increasing our diversion rate. We are now looking to extend some recycling services to customers to continue to manage post-consumer waste.
Updates on our waste project will be available in the coming weeks! Minimizing the impact of our waste on the environment is an issue our Co-op is very passionate about. Reducing the volume sent to landfills not only decreases harmful pollutants leaching into surrounding areas but also defers the need to build new ones. Through the continued support of the community, we hope to be diverting over half of our waste from landfills in 2024!
EV Charging Stations will go live in 2024! On the west side of our parking lot, you’ll see the orange EV stations erected. We hope to announce their official launch soon. We’d like to thank Monadnock Sustainability Hub, Revision Energy, the NH Department of Environmental Services and Eversource for helping us launch this project and see it through, and for our customer’s patience and caution in the parking lot during construction.
I will continue to share sustainability updates as we progress through 2024. We always welcome feedback and collaboration from our member-owners and community on how to work together to become more sustainably minded. See you in the store (and on social media)!
