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Earth mothers: Ashland Soy Works owners tread lightly on the planet By Jennifer Nitson Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland Soy Works owners and sisters Judith Roberts and Robin Del Rio like to feel good about what they do. They offer products they believe in, including handmade organic "Two Sistas" tofu, tofu loaves, tofu "eggless" salads and black-eyed pea salsas. "It's the food of the future, the tabla rasa of the food world," Roberts said as she and Del Rio launched into an extensive list of all the ways tofu and soy products can be incorporated into meals. They pay their four factory employees a living wage, an undisclosed amount that has allowed them all to become homeowners in the area. "We pay them as much as we can afford, because they're worth it," Roberts said. The two sisters focus on education efforts in the community, such as Southern Oregon University's health fair held each fall. They donate tofu products to after-school programs, school fundraisers, and functions. The women also want to tread lightly on the planet. They recycle much of their production waste. "We recycle everything that's possible and try to use little of what's not," Del Rio said. In addition to recycling plastic bottles, tin, glass, office paper and food waste, Ashland Soy Works now recycles the No. 2 plastic tubs used to package their salsas, salads, and tofu. Previously, eager recyclers at the Ashland Recycling Center would be told that though the tubs have the same resin identification numbers on the bottom as many of the bottles they recycle, such tubs would not be accepted in the recycling bins. Now, recyclers are informed that they are welcome to take such tubs across the street to Ashland Soy Works. Roberts and Del Rio will be using their own vehicles to transport accumulated tubs to the Arcata Community Recycling Center, in Arcata, Calif., where Del Rio has a home. The Arcata Community Recycling Center began taking the plastic tubs this year because community demand for the service was high, and a company who would take them was found -- Ming's Recycling Corporation in Sacramento, Calif. Ming's collects plastic containers numbered 1 - 7 and exports them to China, which has become the largest recycler of United States' post-consumer waste. Some "recycling" operations in China simply burn large amounts of plastic, and this was a concern for the Arcata Community Recycling Center. "We generally don't like to go overseas, but we checked into it," executive director Mark Loughmiller said in a telephone interview. "We're confident it's on the up and up." In China, the plastic from Arcata is made into a variety of products - spun fiber for carpet, new container bottles, and camera and cell phone bodies. "Most of it's made into durable products," Loughmiller said. Loughmiller addressed why No. 2 plastic tubs are not accepted at many recycling centers when bottles with corresponding numbers are. "There's really no distinction between the plastics," he said, explaining the production processes for bottles and tubs. Plastic bottles, defined as a plastic container with an opening which is smaller than the body, are made using a blowing process, and the tubs, with lids larger than the body, are made using injection-molds. "Injection-mold type plastic is under 5 percent of the waste stream by weight. The mills that take it want it by the truckload. To get a truckload of it would take a decade." Since Ming's will take truckloads of mixed plastics, it is possible to fill a truck periodically and make deliveries to Sacramento. Each shipment costs the recycling center $700. The Arcata Community Recycling Center is paid nothing for the plastic. "We receive no money," Loughmiller said. "It's a community goodwill activity." Del Rio and Roberts see no profit from toting plastic tubs from Ashland to Arcata. They do it as a service to their customers and as another way to leave a smaller footprint on the environment. Roberts bought Ashland Soy Works in 1997 and Del Rio joined the business a few years later. "The whole business of tofu and organic foods and natural foods rings very true with Judith and myself," Roberts said. "It's something that can be done consciously with an eye toward education." Both Roberts and Del Rio think their past experience in restaurants and food service helps them succeed in the tofu business, but most important they say is their experience as single mothers. "To be self reliant and confident and flexible when there's no one else to turn to but yourself," Roberts said. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -