(Photo: The SterileCart system. Credit: Izza Manufacturing)A grocery store in Buffalo, Minnesota has installed an automated system that sprays carts with hospital-grade disinfectant, eliminating the need for employees to use sanitizing wipes or paper towels. The move comes as food retailers try to reassure consumers during the covid-19 pandemic — and stay on track with waste reduction commitments.
Cub Foods in Buffalo, Minnesota, put the automated cart sterilization system in their store earlier last month, Carter Jones reported in the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. Izza Manufacturing & Coatings owner Scott Landgraf said he came up with the SterileCart system after seeing retail workers wipe disinfectant off carts before they dried, which reduces their efficacy, he told the outlet.
“The conveyor style system cleans two carts per second and reduces costs by eliminating dedicated employees to clean carts,” Jones wrote. “The SterileCart system ships fully assembled, and doesn’t require a drain or direct water line.”
Compostable and recyclable food industry packaging company Ultra Green Sustainable Packaging distributes the SterileCart. Owner Kristin Davidson told the journal that the system will be installed in more Cub Foods, and that she expects it to become the “new normal.”
Solving the sanitation challenge, especially on high-touch surfaces like shopping cart handles, is a top priority for food retailers right now, the Progressive Grocer’s Gina Acosta noted recently.
“The pandemic has shattered consumer confidence in the safety of grocery shopping, and for shoppers, the fear is all about sanitation and staying virus-free,” she wrote. “While cleanliness has always been critical in food retail, the need to clean, sanitize and manage safety will never be as important as it is now, while this pandemic endures.”
Sanitation concerns are intersecting with grocery retailers’ commitments to cut waste from stores and improve the way they manage resources, including water. Cart sanitation machines might help with both.
Other grocery chains around the country are turning to new systems to disinfect carts. Two grocery stores in Philadelphia created a pulley system for cleaning their carts, NBC 10 Philadelphia reported. And local stores in Birmingham, Alabama, have started ordering and installing Sanitizit cart sanitizing machines, according to WVTM 13.
