I've been reading the DCC's Waste Minimisation Plan recently, and thinking about the things we do at Locavore to minimise waste. Turns out there are quite a few of them!

Our boxes are wooden, made by Cargill Enterprises. When we deliver a box to a regular customer, we pick up the empty crate from the previous delivery. (Most of our customers are weekly or fortnightly subscribers). While some of our crates have been lost or broken (hazards of putting a box behind the car in a garage…) we do still have some from our very first batch, made five years ago.

Most of our suppliers deliver vegetables and fruit to us ”nude”, in returnable crates so there’s no disposable packaging.

When we put together recipe ingredients, we package these in glass jars (or paper bags). Again, these are returned to us and the jars are cleaned and sterilised for re-use. The ingredients are bought in bulk (from Alexanders Marketing, another local business) and also stored in glass until they are distributed.

Customers will often send us empty glass jars from their household, diverting these to us for sterilising and re-use.

Some suppliers have a bottle/jar-return policy, so we receive those back from customers when empty and return to the supplier. (Bay Rd peanut butter is a good example of this).

Our main focus is on locally produced food, so we minimise environmental impact with lower food miles/kilometres.

All this and fresh locally grown vegetables and fruit, delivered to your door!