COMMUNITY NEWS
New Leaf Ends Sales of Single-Use Small Bottles A s of April 22, Earth Day, New Leaf Community Markets stopped sales of single-use bottles of water, part of an initiative to boost its landfill diversion rate from 52 percent to 57 percent. The policy will apply to all New Leaf stores including Aptos, Capitola and Santa Cruz and all New Seasons Market stores. “Combined, beverage bottles, caps and lids make up the second most common form of ocean litter. By committing to using reusable bottles, we can remove almost 70,000 single-use plastic, aluminum and glass bottles a year,” said Athena Petty, senior sustainability manager at New Leaf Community Markets and parent company New Seasons. “We’re starting efforts with still water in containers one liter or less because opting for reusables is an easy individual choice to help lessen our collective environmental impact.” Lindsay Gizdich, associate brand manager at New Leaf, said, “To the best of our knowledge, we will be the first grocery chain to eliminate single-use bottles of still water at this scale in plastic, fiber, aluminum or glass containers.” Jimbo’s, a Southern California chain, stopped selling single-use plastic bottles in 2019, and San Francisco Airport banned the sale of plastic water bottles at its convenience stores, restaurants and vending machines in fall 2019. Gizdich said the New Leaf began planning the change in 2019 and scheduled a launch for spring 2020, but the CVOID-19 pandemic altered that timetable. New Leaf Community Markets still offers larger sizes in the grocery department, as well as singleserving bottles of sparkling and flavored water that are not available from the tap. To help customers change their habits, stores will offer one refillable single-serve bottle of still
“Private Event” from page 21 Fairs can now follow the same guidance as amusement parks such as the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, with 25% indoor capacity and time restrictions in the Orange Tier and 35% indoor
“Graduation” from page 20 º If there is permanent seating, rows should be blocked off and kept empty to allow for sufficient distancing between rows. º Graduates must be seated 6 feet apart. • Mark 6-foot sections to help attendees understand what 6 feet looks like. This can be done with small flags, tape, or balloons. • To comply with the 6-foot spacing, handshaking and hugs should not occur.
The shelves at New Leaf include Pathwater in a refillable bottle but single-use one-liter bottles have been eliminated for reasons of sustainability. water from Pathwater, which comes in an aluminum bottle designed to be refilled. Customers can find reusable water bottles to purchase in the Home Goods department. The water bottle elimination is one step in the 2021 sustainability initiatives: • Reduce operational waste from our stores to achieve a
57% landfill diversion rate • Meet a company-wide goal to reduce energy use by 5 percent per revenue dollar • Reward Neighbor Rewards customers with 10 bonus points when shopping with reusables • Increase participation in e-receipts to save paper (Receipt paper is not recyclable.) n
capacity and time restrictions in the Yellow Tier. Overnight sleepaway camps are allowed to open as of June 1, creating an opportunity for many shuttered camps in Santa Cruz County to reopen. “As we continue to expand vaccine
distribution, California is poised for a safe and equitable recovery,” said Dee Dee Myers, senior advisor to Gov. Newsom and director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). “We will continue to work with businesses, arts organizations, community
groups and others to open carefully, with health and safety top of mind, so that we never have to go backwards.” View the updated sector chart to see which activities and businesses are allowed in each tier. n For more info visit www.covid19.ca.gov.
• Consider limiting the sharing or exchanging of materials (such as throwing graduation caps, “sign-in” practices, programs, gifts, flowers). • Districts and schools should, if possible, send students diplomas and caps and gowns in advance through the mail or delivery so they can arrive dressed and with their diplomas in hand. • Graduates may be invited to walk across the stage individually and turn their tassel in lieu of receiving the diploma. Alternatively, diplomas and awards could be distributed if
bestowing the awards and diplomas is done in a manner that reduces contact (placing each diploma and award on a table as the graduate walks by to retrieve it). Or, hand hygiene should be performed before and after touching objects and should be available in the appropriate locations. Alternatives • Virtual, recorded or live-streamed graduation ceremonies. • Sharing videos of graduates’ pictures, speeches, graduates’ short messages from classmates, or videos highlighting graduates’ experiences.
• Car parades that meet local health department requirements. • Drive-in, outdoor ceremonies with graduates marching in the school parking lot but families watching in their cars and listening to the event via radio. • Use social or local media to highlight graduates • Postponement: Risky as no guarantee circumstances will be different later. n ••• Details: www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/ DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/COVID19-GraduationGuidance.aspx
www.tpgonlinedaily.com Aptos Times / April 15th 2021 / 23
