We’ve all seen the news items and documentaries showing the catastrophic impact of plastics on our shores and out at sea. From litter strewn beaches, to open ocean garbage patches, the impact is now significant and the situation has become critical.
About 3 years ago myself and one of our colleagues, Andy had been discussing the amount of plastic that our business produced. It was self evident from busy spells in our kitchen how much plastic we handle from our end of day waste sort.
Looking at the problem, much of the plastic we handle is passed through from our suppliers. Having considered this part of our business we concluded that trying to reduce what suppliers used for their products (think cooked meats, vegetables, fresh meat, frozen items) would prove difficult for such a small organisation to influence.
The next logical step was to look at our own products and see if we could reduce or even eliminate the plastic we buy for packaging lunch buffets and the like. Some weeks we were sending out anywhere between 100 to 300 black plastic trays and lids of varying sizes, along with sauce pots and individual salad containers.
Despite our best attempts, at least half of these platters never found their way back to us for washing and re-use.
After some research and testing out some products we discovered www.vegware.com and the amazing range of compostable, plastic free packaging they have developed. From cups to plates and platters they pretty much had an alternative product to replace the ones we had in current use.
After consultation with some key customers and a trial run over a month. Plus a bit of a re-think of some key working practices, we decided in 2018 to introduce an option for our business lunches that were entirely free of any plastic packaging.
The feedback we received from customers was fantastic. Not only did the lunch buffets look much more elegant and professional, having buffets arrive in plastic free packaging, ticked other boxes for customers. The feedback we received was very positive, as the reduction of plastic use was (and still is) on everyone’s agenda.
In late 2018 we rolled out the use of totally plastic free compostable packaging, for all of our catering. This included eliminating polystyrene plates, all plastic cutlery and switching to sustainable products for these too!
From our teams point of view we also get a good feeling from having played a small part in totally removing some plastic from the supply chain. There is little doubt that more work could be done by the food industry as a whole, to reduce or eliminate many of its un-sustainable practices. The food industry does contribute a massive impact globally. We are proud of having contributed, however small it may appear on the global scale.
For more information on the packaging products we now use for our catering services, please get in touch.
Tony