Austin, TX—Whole Foods Market has enacted new packaging guidelines that affect the personal care products and dietary supplements it sells. According to a press statement, the natural products retail chain will require that suppliers use less plastic in their packaging, switch to glass (when they can), use only packaging materials that can be recycled or are made with largely post-consumer recycled (PCR) content.

Whole Foods has already started transitioning the amber PET No. 1 bottles used in its private label products to PCR materials.

According to Jeremiah McElwee, global Whole Body coordinator for Whole Foods Market, PCR is “the way to go” because they use less energy and water to make and create less greenhouse gases.

Published in WholeFoods Magazine, November 2010 (published ahead of print on September 28, 2010)