The Food Co-op task force, which is a subgroup of the Livable Communities group, continues our work on investigating the possibility of a member-owned Food Coop. We are at a critical point of the discussions and have presented our ideas to the Economic Development Council, in hopes of establishing some funding for getting a feasibility study and pro forma completed before making any crucial decisions. Our group has been invited to join forces with 3 Rivers Coop in Knoxville. We feel such a partnership could be mutually beneficial towards building NE TN into a regional food hub, and we could certainly benefit from their long, successful experience! More updates will be forthcoming as they develop.
In the meantime, the Livable Communities group continues to meet bimonthly and is discussing ways we might, as a community, decrease our landfill input, while improving our environmental impact and saving the city and county money. Suggestions have been offered to form a plan to present to city and county commissioners that would promote a ban of styrofoam and other excess packaging materials, while also working to promote the growing and purchase of local, foods that don’t require packaging designed for long distance shipping.