Beyond the Hawaiian Decor and Smiling Employees

This article was written by staff writer Jenna Bensko. Read about Jenna here.

I remember the day I moved within shopping distance of my first Trader Joes. It was in Brookline, MA and the Trader Joes was supposed to be one of the best in the Boston Area. The store was nestled into Coolidge Corner and offered a bottomless shelf of “Two-Buck-Chucks”, Trader Joe’s infamous cheap wine selection. All of the aisles were decorated in Luau theme, which matched the Hawaiian uniform of the cheerful employees. I was introduced to the wonders of Trader Joes and my lackluster cooking skill set and taste buds went to the next level.

I asked myself what it was about Trader Joes that was so spectacular. Why was I so drawn to this store that I had no previous experience with? I placed it on a pedestal after just one trip. A major contributing factor was merely word of mouth. From both my friends and family, I had heard nothing but praise for the store. It was deemed the perfect grocery store for underpaid, health-conscious, young adults. That is exactly the reason I ended up loving it too (and still do). I can walk out of Trader Joe’s with a $40 receipt for my weekly grocery haul, yet my bags are full of fresh produce and uniquely Trader Joe’s products, like Cauliflower Gnocchi and Almond Butter Puffs Cereal…truly a post-grad’s dream.

Inspired by my previous article dissecting the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report of Chipotle, I wanted to go down the same path for Trader Joes. Is there a dark side to the seemingly perfect grocery store? I’ve been skeptical about their extravagant use of packaging, up-beat employees, and impossibly low prices for some time now. Is there a good reason for the skepticism? Unfortunately, I could not find a Corporate Social Responsibility Report for Trader Joes…which in itself is a red flag. However, I did some digging into Trader Joe’s blog posts and podcast, “green restaurant” certification sites, and Trader Joe’s memoir, Becoming Trader Joe. What I found may be disheartening to some, so I suggest you proceed with caution and with a Trader Joe’s Joe Joe in hand.

From the outset, I was disappointed that it was so difficult to find information about Trader Joe’s sustainability practices. They have no CSR report, so I opted instead to comb through blog posts, web pages, and outside resources. CSR reports have become exceedingly popular for businesses in the past few years in response to consumer demand for more transparency.  Because of Trader Joe’s trendiness and responsiveness to the consumer, I was shocked they didn’t have one. However, I did find one blog post within their site, dated December 31st 2020, that covered sustainability issues. The post was short and lack-luster, leaving much to be desired. The first section was titled “Managing Store Resources” and listed facts about recycling and food waste practices. 

·   “We composted and recycled over 670 million pounds of materials”

·  “Approximately 99.5% of all Trader Joe’s products were sold to customers, donated to our food recovery partners or composted.”

I appreciate that the author took the time to put in quantitative measures for the claims, however the story they tell is missing critical detail. For instance, the blog fails to announce next steps that would build off of their current progress. Setting public goals for the future tends to hold businesses accountable to following through with them. As consumers, we have no idea what Trader Joe’s plans (or doesn’t plan) to do over the next 12 months. 

The next section was labeled “Packaging Improvement Project”. Based on Episode 11 of the podcast, Trader Joe’s has received more than a few complaints about their excessive packaging. Accordingly, Trader Joe’s made some changes to their packaging over the course of 2020. The following changes were noted over 2020:

·  “Packaging for over 150 products was improved by eliminating excess components, increasing the amount of recycled and sustainably sourced materials, and/or removing non-sustainable materials.”

· “We removed over 2 million pounds of plastic packaging from our products this year.”  Here are some examples:

o   Black plastic trays for deli meat were replaced with a paper tray

o Replaced multi-layer foil envelope tea bags with home compostable clear film

This is a step in the right direction, but I would love to see something about reducing the amount of plastic used for their produce. Trader Joe’s rarely leaves fresh produce out unwrapped, swallowing up every fresh fruit and veggie in plastic film. This was the end of the sustainability blog post on their website, so I took to other sources to find out a bit more about their practices.

One glaring issue mentioned on several “scorecard” sites was Trader Joe’s heavy reliance on hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). HFCs are industrial chemicals used for refrigeration and air conditioning and contribute greatly to the climate change crisis. Trader Joe’s has not declared any intent to transition out of HFC use despite a 2016 EPA settlement where Trader Joe’s violated the Clean Air Act via leakage of ozone depleting substances. Refrigerant leaks from US supermarkets, like Trader Joe’s, emit 45 million tons of greenhouse gases (GHG) every year. Many other supermarkets, including Aldi, Whole Foods, and Target, have transitioned out of HFCs and have made public commitments to further improve their refrigeration technology. Maybe with some public pressure, similar to that put toward their packaging issue, the company may trend towards change.

Although I am disappointed by Trader Joe’s lack of attention to their environmental impacts, I am hopeful that with a bit of consumer feedback the store might make more moves toward sustainability. That means we need to hold ourselves accountable and potentially withhold our fixation with the store for a while. Even though this deep dive into their (lack of a) CSR report validated my skepticism, I still have a soft spot for Trader Joe’s. They deliver quality food at an affordable price, pay their delightful employees a better wage than most grocers, and constantly put out innovative products.