Community Supported Sustainability (CSS)

Sustainability is fundamental to our small business. We’re beginning to see some exciting outcomes related to Kres’s glass jar reuse/refill program. Huge props go out to our loyal customers who jumped on-board early. We could not have gotten this far without consistent support from the community, right out of the gate. Since launching “Refill not Landfill” we’ve been able to test the viability of a Community Supported Sustainability (CSS) model built on voluntary customer returns. The process starts when empty sauerkraut jars are returned back to us rather than recycled through local municipalities or other traditional means. Community support has helped us study and validate our options, improve efficiency and refine our customer/business collaboration to achieve a shared goal of reducing waste… as close to home as possible. There’s room for improvement but we’re making progress. Local resources from Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) have given us excellent guidance on ensuring the sanitation front is well-executed. I think we’re on to something here!

Community Supported Sustainability

A customer-driven glass recovery program for small businesses to localize refill/reuse efforts and to close the loop on reusable packaging. Every jar returned makes a difference and program benefits stay within the community through customer loyalty rewards.

Let’s take a half-step back. We package our products in glass because it is the best container for maintaining the quality of fermented foods and because it is safest packaging option for our customers. Science has shown that plastic packaging may pose health risks due to chemicals like BPA and phthalates that can leach into food, potentially causing hormonal imbalances, reproductive issues, developmental problems, and higher risk of cancer, especially when foods are stored in plastic for long periods. Glass, on the other hand, is inert and has an almost zero rate of chemical interaction, ensuring that products inside a glass jar keep their viability, aroma, and flavor.

“Made from nontoxic raw materials, glass is the only packaging material certified by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration as “generally regarded as safe.”

— Glass Packaging Institute

Taking care of our environment is equally important to us and to many of our customers. Glass is 100% reusable and can be endlessly recycled with no loss of quality. However, recycling at scale generally requires long-haul transportation to processing facilities that can handle sorting, crushing, removal of contaminants, melting in a furnace and then remolding into NEW bottles or jars. We’ve figured out how to truncate this process through local recovery and reuse of our own jars. This means closing the loop on reusable packaging by reducing energy that is unnecessarily applied to transporting, crushing, molding recycled materials into NEW containers and reducing semi-truck transportation of glass packaging back to food producers, like us.

“80% of the glass that is recovered is made into NEW glass products.”

— Glass Packaging Institute

In 2023, Kres reached out to market-goers to see if there was interest in developing a glass recovery program. Our vision was to establish a local glass recycling model, driven by voluntary customer returns and Kres in-house reprocessing. By 2024, we had a reliable methodology in place. Our cleaning and sanitation protocols were formally reviewed by ODA and our direct-to-consumer sales model put us out in the community on a regular basis. This locally-rooted approach made it convenient for folks to return glass and redeem their reward. Over the course of the year we more than doubled the number of jars that were recovered, re-sanitized and refilled compared to 2023. Although the recycling process has economic implications for our business (paid kitchen-time), an encouraging trade-off between sustainability and financial outcomes emerged. Real dollar savings were passed-on to customers through our loyalty program but ultimately, the benefits reverberated back to us. This is what Community Supported Sustainability can look like.

Key CCS success factors we’ve learned (so far):

1. To build reliable customer engagement, implement a customer loyalty program with a strong value proposition.

2. Have a reliable presence in the community and market the program at Every.Single.Event.

3. Invest in labels that can be easily removed.

4. Standardize packaging so the jars and replacement lids are interchangeable and can be used across entire product line.

5. Educate folks on how to best participate. This is time well spent when it comes to controlling kitchen time dedicated to glass recycling and not food production - a very delicate trade-off.

The Kres Refill Process

1. Align logistics for local storage, transportation, and kitchen resources to enable bulk processing and timely refilling

2. Remove old labels, inspect the glass for defects, clean and sanitize

3. Allow the jars to thoroughly air dry

4. Relabel, refill and get new product back out to customers!

We prefer to remove old labels ourselves for two reasons: 1) it helps to ensure we’re getting our own jars back for packaging standardization. We’ve learned that visual appearances are tricky and differences in look-alike jars can be very subtle. We may not realize the unlabeled return is not our jar until late in the process - such as when our standard replacement lid doesn’t seat properly, and 2) we can implement an efficient label removal process that minimizes label tears and glue residue; a high-volume removal technique.

Saved by the lid

We cannot reuse lids but we do ask folks to return jars with the lid on. This helps protect the rim during handling and minimizes chips/cracks. Such defects render the jar unusable for refilling. In these rare instances, chipped or cracked jars are sent through traditional recycling channels to be ground and remolded. Metal lids are recycled in bulk via local recyclers.

If you haven’t jumped onto our “Refill not Landfill” bandwagon I hope this post will inspire you to do so. Together we can close the loop on reusable packaging and keep our glass local. The advantages of doing so echo beyond the traditional recycling methods to include things like minimizing long-haul transportation and eliminating the needless manufacturing of NEW glass when our jars can be reused, AS-IS. So, a big thanks to our current participants and a warm invitation to others.

If you’re new to Kres, you can find us at a variety of farmers markets. As the season gets going we’ll be adding additional markets and local avenues to purchase and redeem rewards for returned glass, stay tuned. When you’re ready to start earning Kres rewards, this is how you do it…

REFILL NOT LANDFILL in three easy steps:

1. RINSE OUT your empty jar leaving the label intact. In order to standardize the reuse process we can only accept Kres jars. We have a way of removing the label that doesn't leave glue residues.

2. PUT THE LID BACK ON to protect the glass rim.

3. RETURN TO US at any of our markets, via our local delivery program (soon) or at our main drop-off location (soon). We’ll enroll you in our rewards program for DISCOUNTS on future purchases (no annual limits).

For more info drop us a line and consider joining Kres email communications - we’ll keep you updated on “Refill not Landfill” and many other happenings including new ways to buy our products and upcoming product launches. Please join us!

Kraut on… and when you can, return your glass back to us!

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