Greengrocer Oliver Kay to compost and cut down on food waste
North West-based greengrocers Oliver Kay has announced they will be composting their food waste as well as moving to compostable packaging.
The business, which delivers to approximately 3,500 restaurants, shops and cafes every week, say they want to ‘lead by example’ by reducing the amount of waste that they produce, which they say is around 2.5 tonnes of food waste each day.
Oliver Kay is working with a local Cheshire based business, Re-Source, who have introduced a screw press process which removes the water from fruit & vegetable waste to reduce the density of the load by 90%, leaving only organic waste behind. This resulting compost can be collected by the farmers when they deliver goods to Oliver Kay, and taken back to use on the fields growing the vegetables.
Paul Ellison from Re-Source said: ‘We are excited to be working with a pro-active team who have a genuine desire for best practice. Our aim is to implement a turn-key solution at Oliver Kay, to be the market leader in environmental and green practice solutions, with 100% landfill diversion.’
The company has also replaced polystyrene trays to pack items with compostable versions called ‘Bagass Trays’, which are made from Sugarcane.
The business has also switched to a 100% recyclable plastic wrap, adding they are on the lookout for a compostable substitute to this element of their packaging. The newly implemented processes affect 80% of Oliver Kay’s packaging. The remaining 20% is from plastic bags used to package items such as peppers and spring cabbage.
Richard Thompson, Thompsons Packing Ltd, said: ‘We are proud to support Oliver Kay in their move to sustainable packaging. It is extremely important to us, that companies such as ours take the initiative, and commit to working closely with our partners.
‘Thompsons Packaging along with Oliver Kay want to ensure that the environmental impact and wastage associated with packaging is minimised, and wherever possible eliminated from the supply chain.’
