Wegmans makes sustainable packaging switch

Wegmans Food Market has switched the container of its Food You Feel Good About pasta sauce to one made of lighter weight PET plastic, the type of bottled used for water and soda.

The switch was made with an eye on sustainability, according to the Rochester, N.Y.-based retailer’s sustainability manager Jason Wadsworth. He noted that the new jars are shatter resistant and therefore cannot break as easily as the glass bottles did. The plastic containers are also more widely recycled than glass and will therefore take up less landfill space. They are also lighter in weight and can therefore be shipped to stores with less fuel, he said in a statement.

“By switching from glass to PET jars the same amount of pasta sauce can be shipped each year using 55 fewer trucks. That change can save 974 gallons of diesel fuel, cutting carbon dioxide emissions the equivalent of driving around the Earth once in an average passenger vehicle,” said Wadsworth, in a statement.

Pasta sauce was a good candidate for the switch since it’s a high-volume item, and can therefore have a bigger impact on carbon emissions. Wegmans and LiDestri Foods Inc., the supplier that makes Wegmans’ Food You Feel Good About line of pasta sauces, began exploring improved environmental options some months ago, from the material used to the shape of the jar.