Granola was invented on the heels of the turn of the century’s naturalistic movement, as it was making its way from the old world into the new. The actual word was coined by John Harvey Kellogg – the vegetarian doctor from Michigan, known for his practice of holistic medicine, ultraconservative stance on sex, and the invention of cold breakfast cereals.
In the 1960s and 70s, with the rise of environmental awareness, the “natural” lifestyle made a comeback, and with it the crunchy granola.
It was his hippie roots and the public’s hunger for locally produced granola that prompted John Broucek to start New England Natural Bakers – the natural and organic shop making nothing but granola: cereals, trail mixes, and bars.
Greenopolis visited the bakery’s main operation in scenic Greenfield, Mass to see what the original granola people do to – yes – reduce, reuse, and recycle.
As any small (or large for that matter) business will tell you, the US does not yet have a great infrastructure for recycling. If it did, there would be no story, no creative challenge to keep things from going into trash receptacles, and from there – into our soil, our water, our food and our bodies…
John is not a wasteful guy. He learned from his family to save, reuse and give away rather than throw away. He takes nature close to heart, keeps an organic garden, and was part of the first Earth Day in 1970. His views are clear, but putting them into practice and motivating the rest of the company to follow in his footsteps takes an expert touch. Here’s how he does it.
Motion detectors. No more light switches to forget to turn off. Every room at the bakery is equipped with an automatic on/off system.
Composting. None of the spilled granola or lunchtime banana peels end up in the trash. John gives it all to a local pig farmer.
Corrugate recycling. Over half of the bakery’s discards are thick cardboard boxes in which the raw ingredients are shipped. John uses Waste Management to pick up and recycle the corrugate.
Break room recycling. Apparently, clear signs for what goes where at a recycling station is the great challenge of the 21stcentury. Many just give up. But not John. He has played with font sizes and background color, given lectures and live demonstrations – until everyone at the bakery got on board, and even reproduced the system at home. John contracts with a local recycler, M&M to pick up “household” waste that would otherwise be trashed.
Culture shift. The break room recycling is a microcosm for John’s approach to management, which he sees as a delicate “dance”. Never demand, but invite – and let people choose to engage. To invite is first to provide the infrastructure – not only physical: bins and signs – but moral as well: goals, accountability, communication, and teamwork. When these are in place, your sincerity, and celebration of each small success is the moving force behind your initiative.
An unsolved challenge. John does have a recycling challenge he’d like your help with. For each of his private label clients he gets rolls of plastic film – laminated polypropylene/polyethylene/saran – that it used to package the finished product as it comes off the conveyer belt. When a client changes or discontinues the product, which happens often, large portions of the composite structure plastic go to waste. John doesn’t have enough to get a recycling company to pick it up regularly – but doesn’t have room to store it until it piles up. Do you have a solution? Comment on this post – and get 100 Greenopolis Reward points and 25 pounds of granola if New England Natural Bakers puts your idea to work!
That’s John’s mom, circa late 70’s, tasting granola in the first bakery location.
New England Natural Bakers is on Facebook.
Leave a comment