Karma Roundtable

You mean the bags used for bulk?

From the worms! on Fri 21-Nov-2008 7:11 PM

I imagine there is some logic behind it. But I don't know why some bulk foods come pre-bagged while others are up to you to figure out how to bring home.

Of the foods that are not pre-bagged I find it easy to just brings jars or containers, or simply use the ones others have left at the store.

For spices I find it's helpful to have some sort of funnel as the spices don't have scoops and my spice jars are typically small. I had a fold up funnel that I brought with me, but now I usually just quickly make a funnel from one of advertising pages found in the back of the now magazines that are kept in the store.

The pre-bagging of certain items serves as a deterrent of me buying those items because I'm overly idealistic like that.

From ebodyknows on Sun 14-Dec-2008 1:12 PM

Certain bulk items are bagged for two reasons that I know of. One is that the hand-made wooden bulk bins are very old with cracks in the seams allowing spillage of fine goods which encourage rodents/cockroaches to inhabit the co-op. Bagging stops this. Second is a history of Indian meal moths making their way in via delivered items. This was an in-house problem about 8 years ago and bagging bulk goods helped to alleviate the problem. An investment in functional self-sealing bulk bins might be the answer to this. In the meantime, help yourself to the funnels and scoops and spoons in the kitchen. If a bagged bulk item is too large for you, empty what you want into a new bag and re-weigh both bags.
Michael

From Michael Armstrong on Sun 14-Dec-2008 9:12 PM

Thanks for the info. It's good to be informed. Personally I find the problem is the bags are to small more often than too big. Small bags=more bags.

I guess the way around this that would reduce bag use the most would be to make a custom order of the desired item and take it home in the package it was shipped in.

From ebodyknows on Sun 21-Dec-2008 1:12 PM

I have been avoiding plastic since I discovered that it's covering 25% of the Earth's surface and takes 575 toxic years to break down. I really appreciate that Karma has many bulk unpackaged items - for instance, the only place that I can buy tofu without plastic is from Karma's bulk tofu bin. I remember a time when we had far less plastic, and a lot more shrinkage. I'd like it if we could try to reduce how much we need to pre-bag in order to prevent shrinkage. Some ideas I have right now are:
1. Caulk seams of bulk bins - yes, I'd do it!
2. Assess which bulk foods produce the least shrinkage and are least expensive, and stop pre bagging those, saving member labour
3. Freeze bulk items that are vulnerable to moths prior to putting out in bulk bins, and keeping overstock in the fridge.

Of course, our staff may already be doing these things. Forgive me if that's the case...

PS I normally buy 1 mason jar's worth of stuff, so I often need to buy two pre bagged bulk items, which is a waste. Are there others like me who'd buy larger bags?

From traceytf on Sun 4-Jan-2009 11:01 AM

traceytf: I'm totally with you on the bags often being too small. Dark rye flour is always in the smallest 1lb bags. When I buy it, I usually take 4-5 bags. A waste of labour and plastic. Most of the flour and grains (buckwheat, quinoa, etc.) should hold 500g to 1Kg. Or how about a mix of larger and smaller bags? Then we can see what gets used first?

From the worms! on Mon 19-Jan-2009 8:01 AM

Thanks for your great suggestions. Aside from Michael Armstrong, how many Board of Directors and staff read Roundtable? Will there be a follow up on some of the suggestions?

From chives on Sat 28-Feb-2009 8:02 PM