Ekoladan in Stockholm: Organic Greens To Your Door
by Celine Ruben-Salama, New York, NY on 10.16.06
Tech-savvy Stockholm residents can streamline their weekly shopping routine and save time by subscribing to their organic fruits and veggies online. The company Ekoladan (The Organic Box) provides this subscription service. Set up your account online to receive home delivery of organic fruits and veggies either weekly or every other week. Customers can choose from small or large veggie box, fruit box, mixed box or basics box. Prices range from 180-225 SEK ($24-30) which includes sales tax and delivery.
Box contents change from week to week to keep things exciting. Check the website for a sneak peak at the contents of next week’s boxes. In addition to fresh, seasonals other organic household basics can be added to individual orders such as bread, honey, eggs, rice, pasta, etc.
For those who live outside of Stockholm but are interested in subscribing to the boxes the company will make deliveries if at least 10 households order together. Not that you need it, but this gives you with an excellent excuse to find new eco-buddies in your city.
Ekoladan is run by the 30-year old wholesaler of organic and biodynamic products Biodynamiska Produkter i Järna (Biodynamic Products in Jarna). Run as a non-profit, the company reinvests annual profits to support research, educational programs and other projects in the realm of organic and biodynamic farming.
I feel very lucky to have a service like this in my city.. www.spud.ca. Awesome organic veggies that travel on average half the distance of most groceries from the store. gotta love it.
What about the environmental impact of all the fossil fuels used in making all those door-to-door deliveries?
A truck doing door-to-door delivery can carry the food for many families.
Having each of these families drive to the store individually is not better.
The only situation in which it's worse, I think, is if people walked or cycled to the store in the first place.
I have happily used Organic Express for the last 4 years to provide the same service in my area (Los Angeles County). Local Harvest is an often sited reference for finding such services in the US.
I've subscribed to such a service for several years, and there's a major fringe benefit I don't think anyone has mentioned: the produce is in much better condition, usually, than the same produce seen at a store. I imagine that's because it's handled less and stored in more ideal conditions. Also, "eating through the box" before the next delivery arrives is a fun little game that helps my household eat more veggies! So I'd say the service is well worth the price.
bottleworld.net
Here in Boston, we've got bostonorganics.com - weekly or biweekly...
Similar service in DC/MD/VA area - Washington's Green Grocer (http://www.washingtonsgreengrocer.com/) Much recommended!