Well-Pict Package

Photo from the Well-Pict website

I believe in eating local and in season. But every so often, I succumb to the temptation of a fruit or veggie that's out of season. Recently it's been occasional strawberry binges. I avoid the giant ones that taste like nothing and try to find what I consider to be more normally sized berries, typically in those clam-shell packages that at least can be recycled. Its a small comfort that maybe it's not as bad as if the packaging couldn't be recycled.

As I was getting ready to recycle my lastest package, I noticed something embossed onto the bottom. I'd never noticed anything on such packages before and was curious. In addition to the symbol showing that the pack could be recycled and the type of plastic it was (it was "1" or PETE, polyethylene terephthalate) the embossing said:

www.penpack.net
70% recycled drink bottles and 50% energy from the sun

This little bit of information was eye-opening. This particular brand, Well-Pict Berries, had made a conscious choice of their packaging and the packaging maker had made a conscious choice to use recycled and renewable in making their products. I was impressed. Not only was I not buying from the apparent gorrilla of the berry business, Driscoll, I was also buying from people who were concerned about sustainability. Hooray me.

Addtionally there have been concerns that reused PETE bottles are connected to health issues and their production new is not sustainable. So the idea of safely reusing such a land-fill hog was even more satisfying.

Here is more information on Well-Pict and Penpack. I still will eat primarily local and seasonal, but when I stray, I'll look more closely at the packages as well as the source of the food (which I had been doing) and make my own conscious choices.