By Lauren Keller and Jon Roesser, General Manager of Weaver’s Way – 10/10/24

Weaver’s Way: A Sustainable, People-First Food Co-op 

Part two of a five-week series on cooperative values

We talked to Weavers Way’s General Manager, Jon Roesser who had this to say about the co-op’s current and upcoming sustainability practices:

Jon Roesser: Weavers Way is a consumer cooperative operating four grocery stores and two farms in Greater Northwest Philadelphia. We operate on a triple bottom line – people, planet, profit – and work hard to operate our business in an environmentally sustainable way. Our two biggest opportunities for reducing our environmental impact are related to our energy use and our reliance on single-use plastic packaging.

With aisles and aisles of refrigerated and freezer cases, not to mention refrigerated backstock space, large HVAC systems, cash registers, lighting, and security systems, grocery stores use a lot of electricity! Our goal is to switch to 100% renewable electricity in the next two years. Last month we took a big step with the installation of a 150 panel solar array on the roof of our store in Germantown. This array, owned by The Clean Energy Co-op, will power up to half of the store’s electricity. We are in discussion with The Clean Energy Co-op to install similar arrays on the other flat roof buildings we own.  

While single-use plastic packaging is awfully convenient, and while it also ensures maximum food safety, it has an enormous negative environmental impact, with most of it winding up in landfills, incinerators, or waterways, and very little of it actually recycled. A few years back, we launched our Container Refund Program (CRP), giving our customers the option of buying certain popular items in returnable multi-use plastic or glass packaging. Customers leave a deposit on the container, which they get back when they return the container on their next visit to our stores. We run the container through our commercial-grade dishwasher, and use it again and again.  

This fall, we will begin scaling up the CRP, with a goal of eventually phasing out single-use plastic containers in or prepared foods, deli, and bulk departments.  

Weavers Way is proud of our long-standing relationship with The Energy Co-op, and we look forward to our two organizations continuing to work together to providing Philadelphians with common-sense alternatives for a more sustainable future.  

Environmental and organizational sustainability are cornerstones of both the missions of The Energy Co-op and Weavers Way. The Energy Co-op is proud to supply Weavers Way with renewable natural gas (RNG) and to work together towards a shared mission. We are committed to providing renewable energy solutions and promoting energy efficiency to local community homes and businesses, empowering our members to actively participate in the transition to a sustainable energy future. Our focus on cooperatively-owned renewable resources not only reduces reliance on fossil fuels but also fosters community engagement and education around energy news that directly impacts Pennsylvanians, which drives the conversation forward and creates a demand for increased sustainable energy practices.