In March 2018, we said goodbye to plastic in our boxes for good – we were the first company to do that in Ireland. We sourced compostable plant based bags, we launched our ‘Plastic Free’ shopping aisle and we made a commitment to never include any plastic wrapped produce in any of our set boxes ever again. Over the past 18 months, we have expanded this range, adding lots more sustainable ‘plastic free’ groceries and we introduced a new BULK section of plastic free groceries – even better value.
Supermarkets can’t have it both ways. They maintain their single use plastic packaging, they argue that it prolongs shelf life and therefore it is necessary to reduce food waste (to sustain their model of selling) and at the same time they reject perfectly good food on aesthetics leading directly to large amounts of food waste.
The pressure that below cost selling and rejecting produce based on aesthetics places on growers, means that farmers cannot sustain their livelihoods and corners will be cut. There is always a price to pay.
We used to supply supermarkets and we were told that we had to pay for any produce on their shelves that they did not sell. They also demanded that we lower our prices and stopped ordering until we complied. We pulled the plug ourselves and focused 100% on our home delivery business.
In the supermarket model good food gets thrown in the bin because it doesn’t look right, because it doesn’t conform to what we have been told (by supermarkets) is the only way fresh food should look, that is insane.
I will never forget our very first season of growing veg here in the West of Ireland on my grand-dad’s farm. We were told we were mad it couldn’t be done, others told us that the only way to grow veg was to use a “touch of Roundup” our neighbour wanted to buy the farm and pretty much laughed at our attempts to learn to grow veg. The local garda called up to see if we were growing strange things! That was 14 years ago.
The same arguments have been used for the continued use of plastic in our food chain, but it is the food chain that needs to change. Bypassing supermarkets and sourcing direct from the growers remove the requirement for so much excess packaging.
I imagine that the world breathed a great big sigh of relief over the last 3 months as the large human consumption machine ground to a halt. The plastic problem is an issue of our time and it can only be solved as with climate change not only by changing our behaviour but by governments making these issues the very centre of all decisions taken. A green agenda is the only agenda now that will give us a shot at a future on this planet.
If there are good things to come out of this period of lockdown maybe living sustainably and putting the environment at the top of our priority list could be one of them.
As always thanks for your support.
Kenneth
We have expanded our delivery region on the East coast to include the following towns
Ashbourne, Dunboyne, Dunshaughlin, Summerhill, Navan, Slane, Kells
Delivery day is Saturday
Deadline is Thursday 11am
PS For nationwide deliveries, DPD have significantly improved their game over the last number of weeks as a result we are more confident that deliveries sent out in more regions will be delivered in the intended timeline, last week was a good week and it is getting better. So if you have experienced delays to your delivery in your area in the past then it is quite likely that you will have a much better experience this time round and as always we offer a no quibble guarantee.