ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — We take sustainability seriously at West Village Market. From our sourcing to our operations, every decision is made with the planet in mind. We’re proud to lead by example and inspire our community to embrace eco-friendly practices for a healthier, greener future! Let’s dive into our best practices at the Market.

Since launching our TerraCycle program eight years ago, we’ve made a significant impact by recycling hard-to-dispose of materials. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, TerraCycle is a waste management company that specializes in recycling hard-to-recycle items. Their goal is to keep valuable materials out of the landfills and the environment.

Some items that TerraCycle collects include the following:

  • Oral care waste
  • Food and baby food pouches
  • Contact lens containers only
  • Body care
  • Snack packaging
  • Bar wrappers
  • Coffee bags (with aluminum liner)
  • Personal care packaging

By partnering with TerraCycle, we’ve kept 1446.28 pounds out of the landfill since 2022! Last year, we gathered a total of 424.5 pounds and we look forward to increasing that amount in 2025.

Our Grocery Buyer, Karina Lizotte, spearheads the TerraCycle events, which occur every other month on the third Thursday. When asked about how she got involved, Karina had this to say, “Our Terracycle program began in December of 2017, when my kids were just two years and six months old. I decided to try and reduce our family’s unrecyclable waste by buying exclusively in bulk — a resolution that was very short-lived. Scanning the internet for ideas, I noticed on the Asheville Greenworks website that at the bottom of their list of what is collected at their hard to recycle events, it advised you to start your own, if you didn’t see what you were looking for — and the program was born!”

Karina continued, “It has had many iterations since: from a self-sort drop-off station out front, to a single-stream drop-off behind the store. But after a brief hiatus during covid, we began hosting events and haven’t looked back. The ultimate goal of the program has changed a little, though, in my opinion, the goal of reducing waste is the second objective. The first is to raise awareness of how much waste we are producing in our homes and what must be done with it in order to keep it circulating in our world and not mucking it up.”

Start saving those tricky recyclables now for our upcoming TerraCycle event on Thursday, February 20, from 11am-3pm. All TerraCycle events take place on the patio in front of the Market.

Another proponent in our practice of reducing waste at the Market is fighting food waste. While grocery stores can contribute to a large percentage of food loss, the Market generates a shockingly small amount of food waste.

How do we do it? Well, first, we are smart about ordering! We stock only what we need each week, avoiding excess. Secondly, we love our ugly produce. We embrace produce of all shapes and sizes, bruises included. Anything overly ripe finds a home in our discount section to ensure it gets used before going to the compost pile. Additionally, our deli transforms surplus ingredients into soups, salads, and creative recipes – no veggies left behind! Any remaining food waste goes to our friends at Danny’s Dumpsters for composting. We are making a huge difference by prioritizing efficiency and reducing food waste. Thank you to our shoppers for being a part of this journey!

Next up, let’s talk about our other recycling efforts and practices. We’ve eliminated single-use plastics wherever possible. We now use commercially compostable deli containers! These containers fully break down in a commercial composting system, but not in your backyard compost, as they need additional heat. Once again, it’s Danny’s Dumpsters to the rescue! Danny’s Dumpsters takes care of all our compostables, including the deli containers. Simply bring your empties back to the Market and we’ll send them along to Danny’s. Our goal is to keep our containers out of the landfill – we take responsibility for what we’re putting out into the world! You can toss your containers in the commercial compost bin located underneath the soup station at the Market.

It’s important to note that we chose the option of compostable containers, even though it’s more costly, because we didn’t want to keep distributing plastic containers that cannot be recycled and would end up in the landfill. Unfortunately, the compostable containers won’t break down in the landfill, and neither will food scraps. Let’s work together to make sure everything goes to its proper place.

If you’re a frequent shopper, you’ll notice that we have plastic-free bags throughout the store. We’ve replaced plastic with fully compostable cellophane or paper bags. Both these bags can be added to your backyard compost pile. We encourage customers to bring their own containers, bags, and cups to cut down on waste. Also, we always have some super cute & sustainably made options on hand if you need a new one.

In our commitment to sustainability, we heavily prioritize drinks sold in glass and aluminum packaging, which are easier to recycle and more environmentally friendly. Currently the only exception is locally sourced bottled spring water!

Additionally, we’ve installed LED lights throughout our store to minimize energy consumption and reduce our carbon footprint.

Another way to reduce food waste and packaging is by shopping our Bulk Department! Buy a pinch or a pound – whatever your pantry needs! Did you know we have an in-house “jar library,” in case you forgot a container to shop bulk? These jars are cleaned and sanitized so you can grab one when you need it! We’re always working on ways to make these efforts and signage more visible to our customers.

We believe education is key to sustainable living. That’s why we partnered with The Green Assistant to offer bulk shopping courses to help our community learn how to shop smarter, save money, and reduce packaging waste. Stay tuned for future workshops this year!

We pride ourselves on incorporating sustainable practices and programs into our day-to-day, as well as our long-term goals and mission, that makes us stand out from other grocers in town. Every day is Earth Day here at the Market!

UPCOMING TERRACYCLE EVENTS AT THE MARKET. All events are from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.:

  • Thursday, Feb. 20
  • Thursday, April 17
  • Thursday, June 19
  • Thursday, Aug. 21
  • Thursday, Oct. 23
  • Thursday, Dec. 18