What You Need to Know About The Regenerative Organic Certified Standard

People concerned about the sustainability of their food, beverages, personal-care products and even clothing have a new resource that can guide them to earth-friendly products. The Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) program was created to promote agricultural companies engaged in building soil health—a simple idea that offers numerous benefits, including increasing water retention, improving crop resilience, boosting soil biodiversity and, perhaps most notably, sequestering atmospheric carbon.

The certification also requires participants to treat animals humanely, emphasize pasture-based systems rather than feed lots and other confinement practices, and provide fair conditions for producers and workers.

Work on the program started in 2018, when the Regenerative Organic Alliance sketched out requirements for a holistic certification that would be “aspirational but also obtainable,” says executive director Elizabeth Whitlow. After running a pilot program with 19 farms and brands in eight countries in 2019, the organization started taking applications for certification.

About 15 brands have received the seal of approval so far, including Dr. Bronner’s, Guayakí Yerba Mate, Lotus Foods and Nature’s Path. The ROC label can be applied to groceries of all kinds, and the program is also open to farmers growing cotton and other natural products.

Whitlow has high hopes that the program will make it easier for consumers to vote with their pocketbooks and support brands engaged in sustainable practices. “You can see the power of the dollar when it’s put to good use,” she says. It is also drawing awareness to the important role that agriculture plays in fighting climate change and preserving the natural environment for future generations. Learn more at regenorganic.org.

Simple Truth Recycling Program

Developed in partnership with TerraCycle, the Simple Truth Recycling Program enables customers to recycle a wide range of flexible packaging not currently accepted in curbside recycling programs, including steamable veggie bags, nuts pouches, granola pouches and squeezable baby food.

How the Simple Truth Recycling Program works:

1. Sign up at terracycle.com/simpletruth

2. Collect Simple Truth and Simple Truth Organic flexible plastic packaging (bags, pouches, liners and wraps).

3. Ship the packaging to TerraCycle using a free, prepaid shipping label.

4. Earn points for every pound of eligible packaging sent.

5. Redeem points as donations to charitable organizations.

You can already return shopping bags, bread bags, overwrap and produce bags to bins at the entrance of Kroger stores.

Available exclusively in Kroger and its family of stores, Simple Truth includes more than 2,000 natural and organic products, with hundreds of new items launching each year.