~Words by Justin
Sustainability is important to us, it was a big driver for us getting LocalBox going, so we want to bake it into our business from the start. This post explains what we are doing right now and what we want to do going forward.
We have thought long and hard about how to best make our business reflect our goals, we went through a few iterations, here’s where we landed:
The first thing we thought about was minimising the waste generated by our deliveries i.e. our packaging. We don’t want to use any disposable packaging, our packaging has to be 100% reusable and long lasting.
The delivery materials need to be reusable
We started looking into reusable delivery boxes. Our gut told us plastic was bad so we thought about wood. We designed and built wooden prototype boxes, we tested different lacquers and finishes, then we filled them with food and left them in our yard on a wet February day. The wooden boxes managed to keep most of the water out, but they were heavy, tricky to build and the finishes that make them waterproof had a pretty strong smell.
We were stumped; then we questioned our gut. We realised that all plastic wasn’t bad; single use plastics are bad. A tough plastic box will outlast a wooden box for deliveries. When we looked into plastic boxes, we were happy to find a super sturdy option made in the UK from 95% recycled plastic!
Recycled plastic boxes win
Modelling on the milkman delivery system, we want to reuse our delivery boxes over and over again. A subscription service means that we can easily get our boxes and freezer packs back from customers to be used for future deliveries. Running a subscription model also makes it easier for us to manage our stock and supply, this means we won’t create food waste by over ordering from producers.
Subscription service
We want to reduce our mileage by as much as possible, there’s not much point in reducing food miles by shopping locally if the food then goes on a round the world trip of Belfast. We will deliver to certain areas on certain days. This reduces the time we are on the road and the miles we cover.
Set delivery days for different areas
Here’s a look at our sustainability road map.
Now
- Our delivery boxes are made in the UK, from 95% recycled plastic
- All our packaging is 100% reusable
- We deliver to areas on certain days, to minimise mileage
- Learning what sustainability looks like in food and deliveries
- When you’ve finished your crisps, wash the packet and return it in your Box. We’ll take it to a Terracycle point to be recycled.
Soon
- Find recycled ice packs and cooler bags
- Help our suppliers work on more sustainable packaging
- Increasing the product range
Blue sky
- Electric delivery vehicle
- Eliminate single use plastics from our suppliers
There’s still loads more we want to do, but let’s use this to get started! We will revisit this in three months time. If you have any ideas about changes we could make, we would love to hear them, send them to hello@localboxni.com.
