Plastic is the current bad boy of the environment, and yet for all ready to eat solutions it is by far the most carbon-friendly packaging available. The alternatives are glass containers or metal cans both of which use up significantly more energy to make, to transport empty and add significant weight to the finished product contributing to the carbon footprint of transporting the finished goods.
Our ready to eat solutions are also very efficient in the energy used to cook them. Think of it like this – 4000 pouches being cooked perfectly in one batch as opposed to 4000 individual pans of water being boiled to cook the quinoa grain.
The main issue with plastic is not its environmental footprint but the pollution it creates by not being recycled properly. All materials can, in theory, be recycled but it is the cost of recycling versus the value of the recycled material that determines whether they are or not.
The conscious consumer is ever-growing, and so is the demand for more eco-friendly solutions. And yes, our pouches are not currently recyclable. However, in response to this growing demand we have pledged to offset every gram of plastic packaging that we put on to the market.
We’re doing this through a project-based in Maharashtra In India. Here informal waste workers collect plastic waste lying around that would usually be left to pollute the environment. The money we pay into the Repurpose scheme provides a market for this low-value plastic waste. By providing a market, this waste is collected, bailed and then sent to local cement factories. The bails of plastic are used as a fuel to make cement. Not only does this provide a waste to energy solution that is cleaner (as it’s burnt in closed furnaces) but it also avoids the burning of coking coal, the fuel typically used to make cement – one of the dirtiest fuels to be found. For context, the cement industry represents almost 8% of global carbon emissions.
So not only is the plastic removed from the environment, but it also provides additional income to informal waste workers empowering them further and reduces the carbon footprint of one of the dirtiest industries on the planet.
To learn more about our partnership with Repurpose visit: https://www.plasticneutral.global/quinola
To find out more about the organisation that runs this project in India visit: http://www.carpeindia.org
To learn more about the RePurpose Scheme: https://repurpose.global/