BACK TO ALL NEWS

Let's talk about sustainability

17 September 2017

Let's talk about sustainability

Wearing our progress on our sleeves.... well our pre-packs

At Meadow Mushrooms we know that sustainability is important, and as a business we are always looking at how we can do more. But sometimes we need to celebrate what we have acheived so far - we want to tell people we are doing things and try help encourage others to do so too - so we have also started printing some of our sustainability work on our punnets.

We know this is a journey and it takes each and everyone one of us to make a difference but below are a few things we are proud of. But don't worry we're not patting ourselves on the back just yet, this is just the beginning!

  1. WASTE REDUCTION: So our new mushroom punnets feature new designs which discuss some of the steps Meadow Mushrooms have made in the area of sustainability, for example, did you know that we have eliminated the equivalent of 2.5 million plastic drink bottles from landfill, in one year! This was due to the launch of our cardboard pre-packs punnets which we introduced in 2015.
  2. RESOURCE USE: We used 23,000 tonnes of waste products from other food industries to make our compost, this is what we use to grow our mushrooms. This waste/by product would fill over 2.3 rugby fields! At the end of our growing cycle. All our spent (used) compost goes back to the land. Some of it to help produce the wheat crops used to make our compost - a full circle of production.
  3. RESOURCE USE: We have worked with energy partners to make changes and have managed to deliver power savings of around 15% across our sites, over two years.
  4. FOOD WASTE: Globally food waste is a big issue and ensuring we can help those who need it most is important too. Meadow Mushrooms donates over 7,000 kg of mushrooms to the foodbank each year, which is around 70,000 servings. We also donate to fundraising, charities and sponsorships. 

Our sustainability planning covers environmental (energy efficiency, protecting natural resources and minimising waste), social (supporting and inspiring our people and our community) and economic (being a profitable business and viable employer improving production and efficiency). We are proud to have suppported many groups, individuals, organisations and arts. 

One of the key areas our customers have communicated they would like changed is the reduction of the film used to wrap our mushroom prepacks. We have taken this on board and hope to have some news in this space soon, however what we can do now is recycle it! We recently announced our partnership with the Love NZ Soft Plastics recycling scheme, and we hope as many of you as possible will keep the film of of the waste bin and drop it to a collection bin near you so it can be recycled.

Please feel free to share any ideas or feedback with us at sustainability@meadowmushrooms.co.nz