Live Green — All Year Long

Article archived: May, 2010

The growing season is prime time to adopt new, Earth-friendly habits. However, you can practice green living every day of the year — with just a few simple tips, and a few Earth-friendly products from your local Giant Eagle^®.

Reusable shopping bags

Instead of putting your produce in plastic bags, bring your own re-usable bags to hold your selections. Why not go green — with an attractive, reusable shopping bag from Giant Eagle^®? Each bag costs just 99¢, and is roomy enough to hold lots of groceries. Better yet, these lightweight, insulated bags go anywhere you do!

Savvy shopping choices

When you take your next trip to Giant Eagle^®, look for all of the ways you can shop greener. These tips will help you make eco-friendly choices:

Look for grocery products made from recycled materials — these products will often have a specific designation on the label, too. Or, look for grocery products packaged in materials that can be recycled, such as glass bottles or aluminum cans, rather than materials destined to become waste, such as Styrofoam.

Suggested products:
- Nature's Basket^® Paper Towels — 3 Rolls
- Nature's Basket^® Bath Tissue — 4 Double Rolls
- Nature's Basket^® Snacks and Nuts
- Nature's Basket^® Salads
Choose regionally grown and organic produce. These are both responsible choices. Organic produce uses fewer natural resources, and is typically raised with natural fertilizers rather than chemicals. And, regionally farmed produce requires less fuel to travel to Giant Eagle^® than produce brought in from farther away.
Select natural and organic groceries. Giant Eagle^® natural and organic offerings include more than 30 types of organic fruits and 70 varieties of organic vegetables and bagged salads. In addition, many of our stores carry organic chicken and beef items, snacks, cereals, bottled and medicinal teas, juices, waters, soy/rice beverages, sports/nutrition drinks, dried fruit and granola, energy/nutrition bars, vitamins, paper and cleaning products, herbs and homeopathy, aromatherapy and health and beauty care items.
Fill up with greener fuel. Redeem your Giant Eagle^® fuelperks!^® for E85 and domestically produced bio-diesel fuels at select GetGo^® locations. These fuels reduce harmful vehicle emissions and improve the performance of your car or truck.

(Editor's note: Only vehicles designated as "Flexible Fuel Vehicles," or FFVs, can accept E85 fuels, and only vehicles with diesel engines can accept bio-diesel fuels. Explore the following links, courtesy of a U.S. Department of Energy-U.S. Environmental Protection Agency partnership, to learn more about Flexible Fuel Vehicles and vehicles with diesel engines.)

Energy-saving measures

You can conserve resources — and save money — by employing energy saving measures in your home. Here are a few easy ideas:

Lighting

If every home in the U.S. replaced just one light with an ENERGY STAR^® light, we would save enough energy to light about 3 million homes for a year, save about $700 million in annual energy costs, and prevent 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to the emissions of about 800,000 cars.
Wondering where to get the most energy savings? Replace light bulbs (or entire fixtures) where lights are typically left on the longest, such as your family and living room, kitchen, dining room, and porch. Place bulbs in open fixtures that allow air flow and, if replacing a bulb operating on a dimmer switch, look for bulbs specifically designed for this use.

(Editor's note: Giant Eagle^® has been an ENERGY STAR^® partner since 2001.)

Home Electronics

If each computer and monitor in U.S. homes was to sleep when not in use, we would save more than $1 billion in annual energy costs while preventing 15 billion pounds of greenhouse gases equivalent to emissions of more than 1 million cars.

Kitchen Appliances

In most households, the refrigerator is the single biggest energy-consuming kitchen appliance. To save energy, save money, and fight global warming, choose refrigerators that are 20 percent more energy efficient than the minimum federal standard. These refrigerators use less energy than a 60-watt light bulb that is run continuously.
Run your dishwasher only when it's full. Don't pre-rinse dishes. Tests show pre-rinsing doesn't improve dishwasher cleaning and you'll save as much as 20 gallons of water per load. When you buy a new dishwasher, look for one that saves water. Water-efficient models use only about only about four gallons per wash.

Conserve natural resources every day in 2010. Taking just one of our suggested Earth-friendly steps will have you enjoying greener living — often, at lower cost — in no time!