With retail storefronts growing increasingly popular, we are always looking for stores that are pioneering the eco-friendly shopping experience for everyone to enjoy. Superette has recently expanded from their first Ottawa location (1306 Wellington St W) to Toronto, Canada (1073 Yonge St) and is changing the game in eco-retail. We narrowed it all down to 4 amazing ways Superette is pushing for a greener shopping experience and a cleaner tomorrow.
- 100% Compostable Shopping Bags
We love the attention to eco-consumerism that Superette encourages with their new shopping bags. In Canada, we use almost 15 billion plastic bags every year, contributing to the 2.8 million tonnes of plastic waste that end up in Canadian landfills annually. Superette has taken initiative in reducing that environmental burden within the retail space. By partnering with noissue, a company created to provide brands, makers and businesses access to custom, sustainable packaging. In collaboration with noissue, Superette has created their first-ever 100% compostable shopping bags. These bags will biodegrade within 90 days in commercial compost and 180 days in domestic compost and when added to backyard gardens can actually help improve the carbon-nitrogen ratio in the ground. Check out the link for these unique, reusable bodega bags- perfect for returning customers who want to save on waste!
- Participating in Amazing Environmental Initiatives
We believe Superette’s leadership in these initiatives is setting an amazing example for the rest of the world to follow with respect to retail spaces. With Canada gearing up to ban single-used plastics as soon as 2021, seeing as plastic products contribute 7% by weight and 30% by volume to municipal solid waste. This becomes highly problematic given the high volume and amount of garbage the waste management system endures, creating potential future public health problems. However, Superette has encouraged a call to action from all customers, by partnering with Terracycle. Terracycle is a company created to help “eliminate the idea of waste” by recycling the un-recyclable, providing national recycling solutions for virtually any form of waste. Superette has implemented a recycling program in their stores to allow customers to recycle all packaging purchased from a licensed producer. Furthermore, Superette is matching every unit of packaging that is recycled and brought back to the store with a unit of non-perishable food that is then donated to a local food bank.
Another problem Canada faces is the production of discarded electrical or electronic devices; also known as “e-waste”. From 2012 to 2016, Canada’s e-waste production has nearly tripled. In collaboration with Greentec, Superette has created the Kolab Project, to encourage a reduction and proper recycling of e-waste. Greentec is a company that operates with advanced technologies to safely refurbish, securely destroy and recycle e-waste and recover rare-earth metals. Superette stores will have Kolab-Project E-waste recycling bins to accept electronic cartridges and batteries from all licensed producers.
We applaud Superette on doing their due diligence in encouraging staff, customers and community members to consciously repurpose and appropriately dispose of their waste to ensure maximum usage of all resources.
- Environmentally Friendly Products
We really appreciate the way Superette incorporates eco-friendliness into their brand through some of the cool products they sell. For example, as a society that is often on the go, the resulting effects are a very high production of food packaging waste from takeout containers, beverage cups and so on. The demand for corporate accountability of environmental needs, even past the point of purchase, is higher than ever and Superette has responded enthusiastically. Through the launch of the “Daily Joe Travel Mug”, Superette has provided the means for customers to engage in a more environmentally conscious routine on a daily basis. This 12 ounce collapsible mug is dishwasher safe, has no phthalates, leads or glues and is BPA-free, encouraging buyers to reuse the travel mug rather than disposable coffee cups.
- Partners With Eco-Conscious Companies
Superette does fantastic work by partnering with some eco-conscious businesses that we love. Eco Four Twenty is a small business with the goal of providing environmentally friendly personal health and wellness products Whereas competitor filters are typically made of single-use, non-recyclable plastic; forcing users to regularly dispose of upwards of 100 grams of plastic (including packaging) every time the filter is used up. The Eco Four Twenty filter is an amazing eco-conscious alternative. The unit is made of a high-grade aluminum and designed with a replaceable filter system, such that users can discard the filters- which are 1/3 of the weight of competitor filters- and replace them with a new one. This innovative system is a fantastic way of encouraging businesses and shoppers to start thinking outside the box in ways we can optimize the eco-retail space.
We believe Superette is doing a fantastic job in constantly striving for better, in terms of their standards of eco-consciousness in staff, customers and their community. We truly cannot wait to see all the fantastic future events and initiatives to come from Superette.
Click the link below to visit a location to shop, or drop off recycled e-waste/packaging!
Click here to check out the “Daily Joe Travel Mug”
Click here to get yourself an Eco Four Twenty personal air filter