Document text
Co-op contributes panels to food bank Amanda McCraken of the Ashland Food Co-op guides a tour of the market's sustainability efforts Thursday. [Photo by John Darling] Sunday Apr 23, 2017 at 11:33 AM Apr 23, 2017 at 11:33 AM By John Darling For the Tidings In a big move toward sustainability and the long-term goal of carbon neutrality, the Ashland Food Co-op has bought a bigger, more technologically advanced solar panel array and donated its old array — still fully functional — to the Ashland Emergency Food Bank. In a sustainability tour Thursday, the Co-op also announced plans to cut carbon output by the plethora of motorists who cram its parking lot. Starting in June, they will offer “Bicycle Benefits,” stickers you put on your bike helmet and show to cashiers for 5 percent off your purchase. The Co-op bought 150 new solar panels of 260 watts each, which will cover 7 percent of their electric bill, says Marketing Director Annie Hoy. That bill is considerable — equivalent to 70 households. It doesn’t stop there. The Co-op, starting in May, will try to cut down use of to-go deli boxes, which make up half their trash and cost 40 cents each, says Co-op Sustainability coordinator Stuart Green. If you use hard plates, bowls and coffee cups from the Co-op, you get 15 cents off each item. Since the state doubled the return value of bottles and cans, setting it at 10 cents, customers are recycling much more of them, instead of tossing bottles in glass recycling, says Co-op tour guide Amanda McCracken. Plastic clamshell food boxes, which formerly went to the landfill, are now returnable, she says. They go to organic growers. The same happens to empty egg cartons. Waxed cardboard, formerly one of the most unsustainable items, are now getting recycled. Solar panels, costing $109,000, now take up just about all the Co-op’s roof space. They bought 42, upgrading from the previous 27, which went to the Food Bank. Like the Co-op, the Food Bank has a big energy bill because of refrigerators and freezers, says Traci Darrow, executive director of the Food Bank. “It’s been really great to see how much it generates and cuts our energy bill,” says Darrow. “The less we pay for electricity, the more fresh fruit we can buy for our clients and families in need. It also aligns with Ashland’s goal of reducing our carbon footprint.” The donated panels have a 20-year life and now are about half-way through that, says Hoy. The installation of the Food Bank’s panels was donated by True South Solar of Ashland, whose co-owner Shaun Franks says, “It’s a great system. We took it off the Co-op roof, bought some additional stuff, designed it to go on the Food Bank and installed it in a few days. “We put up the Co-op’s old system. Their new one is twice as efficient. This is the first time we ran into the issue of ‘what do we do with old panels?’ The Co-op is very generous, as it helps provide more food for the community.” — John Darling is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected].