PCC Natural Markets is first grocer in the nation to offer new, safer customer receipts at all of its locations
2014 News
Seattle, Wash., September 30, 2014 — PCC Natural Markets (PCC), the nation’s largest natural foods retail cooperative, announced today that customers at all ten locations now receive receipts made from paper free of Bisphenol A (BPA) and Bisphenol S (BPS), compounds linked to a variety of health concerns. BPA has been banned from baby bottles and sippy cups and has been voluntarily eliminated by manufacturers of some other consumer products.
Alpha® Free receipt paper was developed by Wisconsin-based Appvion, Inc. Made with a vitamin C-based thermal coating, Alpha Free paper receipts are naturally yellow and easy for consumers to distinguish from other receipts.
“Nothing is more important to PCC than the well-being of our employees and shoppers,” said Nancy Taylor, PCC’s director of human resources. “PCC provides more than 7 million transaction receipts annually, touched first by our cashiers and then put into the hands of our customers. We are pleased to provide Appvion’s Alpha Free paper, which we believe to be much safer to use in an environment where food is handled and sold.”
In recent years, PCC had been using a double-sided receipt paper which, while free of BPA, contains BPS. BPS is suspected of having toxic effects similar to those of BPA. Appvion’s Alpha Free receipt paper is the first that is free of phenols and controversial phenol substitutes. The change to Alpha Free paper has required a return to single-sided receipts but PCC feels that the trade-off — longer receipts but safer ones — is warranted.
About PCC Natural Markets: Headquartered in Seattle, Wash., PCC Natural Markets is a certified organic retail cooperative with annual sales of more than $200 million and an active membership of more than 52,000 households. PCC operates ten neighborhood locations; nine in King County including Fremont, Greenlake Aurora, Greenlake Village, Issaquah, Kirkland, Redmond, Seward Park, View Ridge and West Seattle, and its Edmonds store in South Snohomish County. pccmarkets.com
About Appvion (formerly Appleton Papers): Appvion creates product solutions through its development and use of coating formulations, coating applications and Encapsys microencapsulation technology. The company produces thermal, carbonless, security, colored bond, inkjet, digital specialty, and Encapsys® products. Appvion, headquartered in Appleton, Wisconsin, has manufacturing operations in Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania, employs approximately 1,700 people and is 100 percent employee-owned. www.appvion.com
Media contacts
Diana Chapman
PCC Natural Markets
Email
206-547-1222, ext. 106
206-390-6657 (cell)
Dave Pauly, Product Manager, Thermal Point-of-Sale Paper
Appvion
Email
920-991-8626
920-716-8140 (cell)
Bill Van Den Brandt, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications
Appvion
Email
920-991-8613
920-851-0516 (cell)