At Dawson’s Market we practice what we preach through our Environmental Pledge. From the containers we use to serve our locally sourced food to how our staff sips their coffee, our market operates with two things in mind: our community and the environment.
We not only owe this to you, our patrons, but owe the planet our pledge as well, as it continues to serve us through our daily operations here at Dawson's Market. Without our community and the environment serving as our foundation, we wouldn’t be who we are today.
Please join us in our commitment to positively impact our environment. Together we can truly make a difference.
We hereby pledge to create and maintain strict and sustainable environmental standards, personally and professionally.
We promise to serve as an example of how practicing healthy living positively impacts both the community and our planet.
We will reduce, reuse and recycle.
We will commit to and encourage the reduction of our community’s carbon footprint.
We will give back, in every way we can, to our people and to our planet.
Click the links to see how you can join Dawson's Market in our pledge to give back:
Our market depends on our community to function. We purchase goods from local farmers and producers not only because it contributes to our overall health as humans, but also because it greatly reduces the mileage between our farms to your plate, saving money and the planet simultaneously.
Our strong relationships with local farmers contribute to Dawson's Market pledge in committing to organic growing practices, sustainable soil treatment, fair treatment of farm workers, and animal welfare.
See our local integrity pin? That means your product traveled no more than 100 miles from Rockville to get to your plate.
As a company, we said "goodbye" to plastic bags long ago. They are very difficult to recycle, harm the environment and take money out of our pockets every time we use them. We use paper bags - which are much more likely to be used again as recycling the raw materials is far easier.
By using our 100% post consumer recycled paper bags, Dawson's Market saves 200,000 bags a year, saving you money in the process. As part of our bag credit program, we'll give you 10 cents for every bag used during your visits -- including plastic. As long as you're reusing, we're game.
We love to recycle and it shows. It all starts with our mindful staff, who make recycling a part of their everyday routine by using our many recycling stations, and who say "no" to paper cups and disposable plates. We also have clearly-labeled recycling bins for everyone in our store to help us get this situation sorted out.
Cardboard boxes? Yep! We recycle those, too. We also make it convenient for you to pitch-in with recycling stations throughout the store and inside our cafe and dining area. We like to make a difference - an average of 60% of our grocery store waste is recycled.
Our compostable to-go containers are great, but they are just the start of our composting program. We also compost most of our food scraps and the leftover pulp from our juicers. Composting is a great habit we can all get in to help the environment.
As a grocery store we sell lots of food, which means we tend to also produce a lot of food waste. We don’t like to throw out food like many other stores, though. Instead, we have plans in place to keep that from happening.
Our quarter bin program helps us reduce the amount of food we throw out by offering nearly expired items or food (like bruised apples) to Dawson's Market employees for 25 cents. It’s a great deal that helps us distribute food before we have to take it off the shelves.
Our food donation program is in place for Rockville, Maryland nonprofits and organizations who are welcome to make regular pick-ups in order to feed the homeless and hungry or to help livestock on local farms. If you are part of an organization that can make use of our leftover food, we urge you to contact us. The less we produce waste, the better for our local community.
The architects and contractors we choose to work with help us build our store using locally-sourced and reclaimed materials. You’ll notice we use building materials like recycled wood or the recycled glass we use to decorate the concrete countertops at our Dawson's Market cafe. We look for durable materials that don’t just boast a “green” image, but actually provide us with a more sustainable way of building.
Besides just our building materials, we like to stay environmentally active by keeping our energy meters low when our lights are on. We do this by using LED and fluorescent bulbs and fixtures that require less energy to run, give us great lighting, and put out less heat. Not only do they save us energy, but these bulbs and fixtures also tend to last way longer than your ordinary bulb. Why would we not use them?
Last -- but definitely not least -- is our store signage. At first glance it may not seem like such a big deal, but at Dawson's Market, having eco-friendly signage is a major step in giving back to our planet.
If you take a look around the market, you’ll see lots of signs, the majority of which are made from reclaimed woods and chalkboard. The use of chalkboard helps us recycle our signage by not having to throw away signs every time a deal is updated or a price is changed.
Where most stores don’t think of how much paper waste is being produced by changing signage, we keep our eye on waste because if it impacts us, it impacts our community.
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