A positive step in the food packaging front. Two national labels, Earthbound Farms (organic salads) and Naked Juice (owned by Pepsi), are switching all their packaging to 100% post consumer recycled plastics.

PCR PET stands for post-consumer recycled polyethylene terephthalate.

According to Earthbound Farms, the conversion to PCR PET will save 424,000 million BTUs and over 68,000 gallons of water. Additionally it will eliminate 16,191 tons of CO2 emissions and keep 1.3 million pounds of plastic waste from the landfills.

Both companies prominently boast the switch on their website. Naked Juice has branded these plastics as reNEWabottles and said in a press release:

The initial 32 ounce bottle transition reduces virgin plastic consumption by 1 million pounds per year and oil use by 8,192 barrels every year (oil is used in the manufacturing of plastics) – the equivalent of taking 497 cars off of the road.
When Naked Juice finishes transitioning its entire line, virgin plastic consumption will be reduced by 8.1 million pounds per year, saving 57,000 barrels of oil every year – the equivalent of taking 3,460 cars off of the road!

What you need to know:

Post-consumer recycled PET is made from plastic products, such as soda or water bottles, that were previously used and then recycled.

This does not mean that the packaging will be recycled again (depends on the local recycling policies in your area).

Nor is new the packaging biodegradable.

There are no known health issues connected with using recycled vs. virgin plastic.

What to do at the supermarket:

Kudos to Earthbound and Naked Juice for this move.

However, if you really want to save the earth, buy unpackaged produce and chop it up yourself. It’ll also be much cheaper.

As for Naked Juice, we’d drink tap water instead, using the savings to buy fresh blueberries, apples, mangos and whatnot. You’ll be getting a hell of a lot more nutrition, saving money, and saving the environment.

But hey, that’s just us; we’ve got plenty of time to chop up our salad.

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