Our Eco Journey
My ethos has always been about sourcing food that is as close to its natural state as possible, produced and delivered with care and respect for the animals, the environment and the individuals involved.
A key part of this focus is to make sure our end-to-end supply chain is as eco-friendly as possible, which is something I have been working on since the business was started.
We have made great progress, and are now members of the Singaporean F&B Sustainability Council, and have been recognised by the UN as one of the first LowCarbon companies within Singapore for our work on reducing and offsetting our carbon emissions.But we are not where we need to be yet. So on we go.
We have offset as much of our carbon impact in Singapore as we can
We have offset the carbon impact of nearly all areas of our business within Singapore. We are now carbon neutral across our delivery fleet, office emissions and even our teams’ commutes.
The only area outstanding before we can be identified as truly carbon neutral within Singapore is our chilled & frozen warehouse operation. We are currently working with our landlord to understand our impact within the shared facility in which we operate.
We are working on reducing our carbon impact outside of Singapore
We recognise given the net import of food products into Singapore that a lot of the carbon impact of a grocer is the goods being imported into the country. Our first priority is to source great tasting, high quality, fully traceable, no nasties products from within Singapore.
If we are not able to do so, we will look to bring the product into the country in the most environmentally friendly way, from suppliers who are looking to reduce the carbon impact of production. We have recently reduced the carbon impact of our New Zealand imports by 90%, and are looking to do the same for Perth. Our UK shipments already are shipped using the most efficient direct slow boat to Singapore.
We do not use plastic bags for our deliveries
To reduce our consumption of plastic, we have always packed and delivered our produce in reusable crates instead of plastic bags.
Note: We have presently suspended our use of reusable crates and are delivering all produce in plastic bags for safety reasons due to the COVID-19 situation. We are hopeful that we can revert to reusable crates in the near future and encourage all customers to reuse plastic bags where possible.
Vegetables are delivered in paper bags where possible
Vegetables such as cucumbers, carrots and potatoes are packaged and delivered to our customers in brown paper bags instead of plastic. Whilst we would love to deliver all of our produce in non-plastic packaging, leafy vegetables have to be kept in plastic to ensure they reach you fresh and in the best condition possible.
We prioritise suppliers who make efforts to reduce their plastic footprint
The whole culture of plastic use needs to change and we need to play to its strengths. Plastic is not only malleable, durable and versatile, it also lasts for hundreds of years. Whilst the use of plastic cannot be completely eradicated at the moment, the challenge becomes one of using it more effectively and sparingly. When we repurpose and reuse plastic, we immediately help with the problem.