Hy-Vee To Install Automated Cart Cleaners in Stores

Physically going to the grocery store is one of the things that the vast majority of people still have to do as the coronavirus pandemic rages on. Hy-Vee will soon make the sanitization of grocery carts even more complete, thanks to a new automated system they're installing in stores.

Hy-Vee will be the first grocery store chain in the United States to install Sterile Cart (pictured above), beginning in mid-November. According to a media release from Hy-Vee, the automated system "cleans and sanitizes the entire cart and not just the handles and high-touch areas." That's good news for me as I typically grab one of the front corners of my cart multiple times each time I buy groceries. I tend to pick whichever cart doesn't want to go straight when I push it by the handle.

Sterile Cart is made by IZZA Manufacturing, based in Minnesota. Kristin Davidson,  president of Ultra Green Packaging which distributes Sterile Cart, says in the media release,

The Sterile Cart system uses a hospital-grade disinfectant that is proven to kill 99.9% of germs and viruses that cause illnesses, including coronavirus. The system ships fully assembled, takes up minimal space and sanitizes 1-2 carts per second. The Sterile Cart system provides peace of mind knowing that the carts are cleaned after every use.

 

Hy-Vee says Sterile Cart will be in 200 stores by the middle of November. The Gazette reports the Cedar Rapids store on Wilson Avenue and the Marion Hy-Vee on 7th Avenue will be the first two in the metro to have the new system in place. A completion date for their installation hasn't been announced.