Support Your Community

Recycle with Ease

New Seasons Market is lucky to call the Pacific Northwest home. Lush forests, verdant valleys, flowing rivers, and mountain views you wouldn’t believe—it’s a pretty special place. And a beautiful backdrop for local food to be grown and raised.

Staff member holding plastic recyclables near drop off bins.

We aim to be the sustainability leader in one of the most climate-friendly communities in the country, influencing sustainability practices within our industry and on a national scale. We’re focused on a transparent and sustainable business model that fosters local partnerships with responsible producers and community non-profits. Empowering our customers and staff to join us in taking care of the planet is paramount to what we do, too.

With sustainability as the cornerstone of our mission, we’re committed to reducing our carbon footprint and always looking for ways to do more. In the spring of 2022, we made a big step toward this goal by launching our innovative, circular packaging program. 

To help divert waste from landfills, we partner with the trusted experts at K&S and D6 Inc. to recycle your #1 PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastics and turn them into 100% post-consumer plastic containers for the grab-and-go items you’ll find at our stores.  

So when you drop by your neighborhood New Seasons Market to purchase your favorite convenient foods from our produce and deli departments, you can feel good knowing that the packaging is made of recycled materials. Pretty cool, right? 

You can even participate in the waste reduction cycle. Instructions for returning containers to your store are on the bottom of the packaging. It's simple: bring us your clean, #1 PET plastics when you're ready to recycle them, and we'll handle the rest!

Results to Date: 
August 2022 through January 2024

  • Recycled roughly 280,600 lbs. of PET thermoforms  

  • Manufactured 102,003 lbs. of 100% PCR PET thermoform packaging for New Seasons 

  • Diverted 2,600,515 thermoforms from the landfill (estimated) 

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What Else Can I Recycle at New Seasons Market?

Besides clamshells, we accept clear plastics, stretchy plastic films, and many other hard-to-recycle items often not accepted in curbside recycling bins—at no cost! For containers, don’t worry about removing the label—our recycling partners will take care of that.

Clear #1PET Plastic Recyclables

  • Clamshells

  • Tubs

  • Lids

Stretchy Plastic Film

  • Grocery bags

  • Produce bags

  • Ice bags

  • Ziploc bags

  • Dry cleaning bags

  • Newspaper bags

  • Cereal bags

  • Case overwraps

  • Plastic shipping sleeves (including Amazon envelopes)

  • Bubble wrap

And while that’s a pretty solid list of acceptable recyclables, sadly, there’s a few plastic items we cannot take at this time.

Plastic Items That Can’t Be Accepted

  • No tinted or solid-colored plastics

  • No cellophane or multi-layer films like floral wraps, chip bags, bar wraps, or stand-up pouches

So, set aside your recyclable plastics and bring them into your local store the next time you shop. Also, please note that while we encourage our customers to take advantage of our recycling program, we kindly ask for your cooperation to ensure the program's effectiveness. 

Our program is for personal and household use only. Unfortunately, we cannot accept large quantities of recyclable material from businesses or organizations. This limitation is due to space and operational constraints that we must consider to maintain the program's efficiency for all participants.

Drop sites are located in front of stores with helpful signage to ensure you’re handing off the right items.

We value your participation in our recycling program. Together, we can positively impact our environment by slowing down the disposal of single-use plastics.

Tags
Community Sustainability