The Natural Grocery Company, an employee-owned company with locations in Berkeley and El Cerrito, is no longer selling individual size single use plastic bottles of water in all three of our locations.
“In our stores you will still find glass, aluminum and recyclable paper containers and of course, we have reusable containers you may purchase and fill with water,” company officials said.
It’s the first grocery company in Northern California to ban plastic single-use water bottles. The Natural Grocery Company has three locations, at 10367 San Pablo Ave. and 10387 San Pablo Ave. in El Cerrito, and at 1336 Gilman St. in Berkeley.
“Convenience too often trumps smart environmental choices and the convenience of plastic is killing our planet,” the company said in a statement. “Did you know that about 70 percent of plastic water bottles bought in the U.S. are not recycled, which means the majority end up in landfills or in the oceans, harming the ecosystem and poisoning animals.”
It’s a “first step” in its quest to identify other areas to reduce plastic waste and other environmentally harmful, the company said.
