Our kitchen
We hate waste and actively work to reduce wastage from our cooking process. Of any food waste generated, 83% is currently recycled. All of the electricity used in our kitchen is from renewable sources, and we are continuously looking for ways to reduce our power consumption. We've invested in more energy-saving machinery, and a more efficient operating site.
Our community
We source our ingredients from local suppliers wherever possible, and aim to use seasonal fruits and vegetables in our menus throughout the year. This helps support local businesses and drastically reduces our carbon footprint!
We also donate 800 meals monthly to local homelessness projects, and offer 1,350 meals to the local community at cost via the sustainability project, Too Good To Go.
Our packaging
Product and delivery packaging is an essential part of our operation, and we know that this is a major consideration for many of our customers. We're constantly looking for ways in which we can reduce the amount of packaging we use, and to ensure that it's fully recyclable.
- Delivery boxes:
Our delivery boxes are made from cardboard and are fully recyclable.
- Insulation:
As part of our commitment to keep evolving and minimise our environmental impact, we're replacing our plastic bubble wrap insulation with a fully recyclable paper alternative.
- Meal trays
We're sometimes asked why we don't use biodegradable packaging for our meal trays. We have researched all of the alternatives available, and discovered that whilst the outer tray is biodegradable, these trays must still have an inner thin layer of plastic on them to ensure the food stays fresh in the container.
If they are placed into your composting box, due to this plastic coating the local council will have to filter them into landfill. There these trays will rapidly release methane, which is many times worse than CO2, while also leaving behind a plastic shell which will take hundreds of years to degrade.
For this reason, we have decided against using this type of packaging, and instead have recently made a major leap to invest in fully recyclable meal trays. These new translucent trays are made from 50% recycled material which can be detected by the automated recycling machines across the country. This means that all customers should find it easy to recycle these with their kerbside collections. At this point, the film is not recyclable but we're constantly looking for more sustainable options so hope to upgrade this soon.
We're supporting the incentive to make single use plastic in the EU a 'closed system' after 2030. This means that by 2030 all plastic within the EU will need to be recycled and reused.
Our delivery partners
All of our national deliveries are currently via DPD, meaning they are CO2-neutral! All of our boxes, and the plastic bags from our coolants, are also fully recyclable (dispose of coolant contents in the bin first).
If you have any further questions on this subject, please feel free to contact our customer care team on mealplans@prepkitchen.co.uk
