Aluminum: Our aluminum cans are highly recyclable. Do your part to keep our empties in the aluminum recycling stream by cutting off the wrapper before you toss them in the bin.

Glass: While not all cities & counties have glass recycling programs, there are usually places you can go to responsibly recycle our glass jars and growlers if you choose not to reuse them. In Atlanta, the best place to go is the Center for Hard To Recycle Materials (CHaRM). While we prefer our glass containers to be recycled, glass does not produce any greenhouse gas emissions in a landfill, in contrast to plastics.

Whenever possible we choose to work with Georgia-based companies like Savannah Bee Company Honey, TGM Bread and GA Sourdough Crackers. And, we’ve got some things in the works to ramp up our local sourcing efforts–check out the “Future Projects” section below.

If you’re one of our regulars and you’re not already participating in our growler refill program, you’re both missing out on discounts and potentially generating more waste than necessary. Conveniently, Upstream Solutions has developed a Reuse Savings Calculator where you can see for yourself how much you could be saving through our refill program. And, the next time you visit the taproom and/or one of our market booths, be sure to grab a growler (and bring it back for a refill).

Whether it's from the preparation of our delicious meals and snacks or from our partners, there’s plenty of food waste generated at our communal kitchen. Luckily, fermentation offers a delicious and gut-boosting process to deal with this waste, leading to creative inventions like our Fire Cider Onions and herbed vegan cheeses. We love that what worked for people back in 10,000 BC still works great today, and that the same principles are upheld as a result of the process–waste not, want not.

Our communal kitchen serves as a shared community resource. Whether we’re using the kitchen for our purposes or not, our facility is using up electricity, space and equipment. Apart from the good karma and financial incentives that come from sharing, there are legitimate environmental benefits gained through the efficiency of space utilization. Without being too self-congratulatory, we think this principle should become more normalized in commercial and industrial settings so that our shared resources are shared more efficiently, with less energy waste from dormant facilities.

While more and more livestock operations are converting to regenerative practices, it’s still pretty hard to lower the greenhouse gas emissions from animal-based dairy products to match those from plant-based alternatives. And, since our Pure Abundance vegan cheeses are already nutritious and delicious, lowering your carbon footprint is just one more reason to make the switch. Swing by the taproom to try out our cheese board!