New Leaf Community Markets, the health-oriented grocery company, has started shipping its waxed cardboard to an Oroville company called CleanFlame,  that wll turn it into clean firelogs.

It's a big step toward ending some 600,000 tons of waxed cardboard waste annually across the country. Up to now, the protected cardboard has taken 50 years to break down in landfills.

New Leaf co-owner Scott Roseman estimates his stores produce 75 tons of waxed cardboard waste a year. There are six New Leafs, including one at 1134 Pacific Ave, downtown and one on the westside, at 1101 Fair Ave. There is also a body care shop at 1132 Pacific Ave., as well as one in Capitola.

“Expanding our partnership with Goodwill Industries is a real win win – it supports Goodwill and its programs, and it significantly reduces our waste removal fees and carbon footprint," said Roseman, in a press release.

New Leaf was already working with Goodwill to recycle its regular cardboard, when it asked the company to find a way to also recycle the large amount of waxed cardboard it was getting.

 “We hope that once the word  gets out that waxed cardboard can be recycled by CleanFlame, other retailers in Santa Cruz will follow New Leaf’s lead,” said Roseman.

CleanFlame logs are now available at New Leaf stores in Santa Cruz and Capitola, completing the circle.

New Leaf was started by Scott Roseman who came to Santa Cruz in 1977 to attend UCSC. While a student, he joined Our Neighborhood Food Co-op, located on the Westside of Santa Cruz.

In the summer of 1984,  Scott was diagnosed with leukemia. It took a year to go through the necessary treatment, but towards the end of that year, as the Co-op was floundering, he  made an offer to purchase its assets and on Oct. 20, 1985 opened the the Westside Community Market.

The original 3000 square foot was located on Ingalls Street, in a warehouse building, but it quickly grew as its organic produce and community-oriented focus and has branched out to Felton, Half Moon Bay, Bonny Doon, Boulder Creek, Capitola and has plans for a new store in East San Jose.