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October 13 , 2007
Uniglobe Environmental Solutions, Inc. rolled its Cartsafe System prototype out of RGF Environmental today in Lake Park, Florida. The Cartsafe System is an environmentally friendly shopping cart washing machine housed in a trailer. Their top priority at this time is to demonstrate the new system to Supermarket executives who will direct contractors to start leasing the equipment.
The system is capable of speeding up washing operations by a factor of six. On the one hand eight carts at a time can be rolled in, washed and sent out in less than 3 minutes. On the other hand, and more importantly, operations take place in broad daylight, making two new shifts possible. So contractors can wash and maintain grocery carts for as many as six supermarkets per day.
Why have carts been washed in the dark?
Up until now, although a few companies have come up with alternatives, grocery cart cleaning has been done with pressure-washers. The problem with pressure washing grocery carts is that chemicals used to clean the carts spill into storm drains in violation of the Clean Water Act.
The Cartsafe system recycles waste water, while applying a bacteria killing antimicrobial mist that bonds to the metal and keeps killing germs long after washing. The bright blue lights then add a futuristic look as it ozonates the washer's inner contents for even more thorough sanitizing.
Despite the more effective antimicrobial processes the Cartsafe system employs, the essential innovation is not the elimination of the bacteria that shopping carts have been famous for carrying as it is larger environmental concerns such as red tides and destruction of eco-systems. The reason shopping carts have been washed only by cover of night is the irresponsible spilliage and toxic waste being dumped onto parking lots.
The Cartsafe system recycles its water back into the unit, uses high tech filtration and cleansing, and then uses the new clean water to wash the next set of carts.
Supermarkets that continue the practice of washing carts by pressure washing run the risk of being fined very heavily by the EPA as alternative technologies become available to solve long-standing environmental concerns. Walmart recently settled for $3.1 million with the EPA for water run off violations.
The Uniglobe Cartsafe system has undergone extensive testing, which will continue in the months to come. Today Uniglobe president, Michael Tranchina, expressed pride in the work Uniglobe has done.
"We will be making shopping safer by cleaning carts, but we will be doing it in an environmentally responsible fashion."
Our News
Oct 16, 2007
Glenn Adams of AP News contacted Supermarket Green News for an interview Monday. AP was running a story on a new green building in Augusta, Maine. Hannaford Brothers, Inc. won the LEED Platinum Award, which was a first for grocers. See our article here. See Glenn's article here. The AP item also mentions Uniglobe's Cartsafe system. Uniglobe is one of SMGN's supporting partners. The AP spotted it on the SMGN site. SMGN keeps articles on supporting partners on front page for up to a week and places breaking stories for the remainder of the week in the headline column. Getting national attention as an innovator in green could be a big boost to Uniglobe. We're sure Uniglobe is getting a great ROI from SMGN. For information about becoming an SMGN supporting partner click on the partner tab above.
Sept 27 , 2007
Supermarket Green News went from the drawing board to live publication today. James Carvin, founding editor, has taken on the project. Carvin has developed search portals and online communities since 1997. Among other projects he developed the Ghostsurfers.com search portal in 1999. Ghostsurfers was one of the 500 most visited sites on the web in July, 2000. Most recently he designed the Creative Realty Network search engine for real estate investment properties and will be taking on Supermarket Green News as a special interest for business green.
"I think that business green is going to get bigger with time. It's also fascinating as can be. Supermarkets are at the heart of green because they involve what we eat. But there is also a business side to it. It involves everything from energy and water usage and savings to reduction of liabilities and risks. Plus, let's face it. There is the profiteering stand point. American ingenuity will bring in new ways to save, new ways to protect people and the environment. So to a certain extent it's about introducing new products."
The news format is new for Carvin. It will involve hiring reporters and soliciting advertising, which is a full time project.
"I see myself as starting the project and then handing it on to others more qualified than myself. We will begin recruiting talented journalists once we prove the model is profitable. There are enough green related businesses to support the advertsing side at this time. Supermarket executives and investors will want to get all their news in one place. So we'll syndicate it and that should provide a lot of links back to us, along with great newswriters and new advertisers. My guess is we should grow fairly quickly, even though we don't plan to be a consumer oriented site. Consumer driven, yes. Oriented, no."
Publisher info
Supermarket Green News welcomes freelance journalists to contribute articles on the business side of supermarket green. SMGN will feature new articles every week and syndicate by RSS and press release. Articles submitted for publication must be timely and demonstrate various ways business is interested in environmental causes. Emphasis should be on analytics, law, innovation in some aspect of operations or supply and be of interest to supermarket executives, investors, contractors or suppliers.
Articles can be submitted by email. Photographs should be reduced to 1 MB or less prior to submission. Send to
editor @ supermarketgreennews.com .