Monday 6^th – Friday 10^th September marks ‘Zero Waste Week’ and we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to share with you a little more about the changes we’ve made and how we’re looking to become more sustainable throughout our operations and limit our waste!

What is Zero Waste Week?

Zero Waste Week started in the UK in 2008, Founded by Rachelle Strauss after the family were caught up in the Boscastle Floods in 2004.  The tragic event inspired her to set-up the Gloucestershire Freecycle Network, a non-profit worldwide charitable organisation gifting reusable goods in order to divert from the landfill.

The floods were a wake up call to the impact we are having on climate change, and during the following years Rachelle began educating herself on sustainable living in a bid to lessen her own environmental impact and share these lessons with others. In 2008 Rachelle launched her website and blog MyZeroWaste.com and the annual event now attracts over 56 million people worldwide.

The aim of Zero Waste Week is to raise awareness on how we can all reduce our landfill, increase recycling and engage with the circular economy.

While absolute zero waste may be unattainable, the campaign is ultimately about saving the environment by reducing pollution and waste to a minimum. We can all create more long-term demand for sustainable products by creating a change in our shopping habits, which is something we have certainly noticed and adapted to as a business, particularly over the last few years.

What do we do to reduce our Waste?

As a family of Fruit Farmers, our roots are very much embedded within the farming community and this offers a great opportunity for us to combine our resources to reduce our waste across the industry.

SHEEP WOOL

There are times when we send temperature monitored parcels and for this, Sheep’s Wool (a bi-product of the Farming Industry) is perfect!
For thousands of years sheep have been able to survive the elements using their wool coats to protect them from extreme cold and heat. Due to the crimped nature of wool fibres, they form millions of tiny air pockets that trap air, helping to provide a thermal barrier.
Find out more Here

APPLE PULP

During pressing season, we use the juice of whole pressed apples (not from concentrate) which leaves us with the pulp we share with local Farmers – the Pigs love Fresh Apple Pulp!
Fruit Pulp as a whole also acts as a great fertiliser so if you have a juicer at home, why not use the pulp to grow your own fruit or veg? Or if you’re more into cooking then growing, check out the link here for some great recipes too! 

PACKING NUTS

If you’ve received a parcel from us recently, you may have already encountered our Packing peanuts- but did you know these are bio-degradable?!
The peanuts we use is made from GM-free starch and 100% biodegradable -also great for composting!

PACKAGING

A question we get asked a lot is how do we package our products? Historically we have used inflatable plastic pouches or bubble wrap to send to our products to customers at home, however in a bid to reduce plastic, we have made the switch to cardboard inserts and boxes which have worked great! This has also meant we have reduced the size and quantity of our packaging- ultimately reducing our Carbon Footprint too!

Why not see what you can do to reduce your waste at home Here

Follow us on Facebook /BensonsTheJuicers or follow us on Instagram @Bensonsfruity on how you can use our products to grow your own seeds at home!