MOM's Organic Gets Rid of Bottled Water

ROCKVILLE, Md. — MOM’s Organic Market here is eliminating all bottled water and other plastics as part of its “Battle the Bottle” campaign.

Since it will no longer carry bottled water, the retailer will install water filtration machines in each store for use with reusable containers. A free gallon will be offered to each customer on every visit. In addition, employees will be given free counter-top home water filters and reusable water containers.

MOM’s also plans to:

• Eliminate bagged potatoes, onions, oranges, salad mixes and other unnecessarily bagged items from its produce department.

• Enable through its POS system measurement of reusable containers brought from home by consumers for bulk purchases.

• Replace plastic with bio-plastic or cellophane in the prepackaged bulk food section, bulk department, bread, bagels and produce department.

• Eliminate petroleum-based wax paper in place of biodegradable wax paper for bagels.

"Societies are truly addicted to plastic, much in the way we are addicted to oil,” said Scott Nash, founder and chief executive officer of MOM’s in a statement. “The tragic part of our addiction is that by and large, petroleum-based plastics are not necessary for consumer products and packaging as we have the technology and innovation to use plastic products that biodegrade.”

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