Plastic-free produce

Looking back through our back-catalogue of blogposts, I find that last winter I was provoked by David Attenborough’s closing words of BBC’s Planet Earth to consider what practical actions we could all take to, as the veteran broadcaster said, ‘create a planet that provides a home ... for all life on earth’.

Similarly this winter, the provocative images of last year’s Blue Planet II still linger on the mind, of plastic in the oceans. Each year we produce over 300 million tonnes of plastic - equivalent to the weight of the entire world’s population. It has been estimated that 12 million tonnes of such plastic end up in our seas and oceans, which can entangle and become ingested by marine life.

With this in mind, we welcome the government’s long-term strategy to eradicate all avoidable plastic waste in the next 25 years. As a retailer we recognise a responsibility to provide the opportunity for you our neighbours and customers to access food that not only is produced but also packaged in the most environmentally friendly way possible. For this reason, you’ll find plenty of fruit and veg here sold loose, for which we provide paper bags. We’ve also increased our range of loose dried goods to include, not least, the ever-popular jumbo oats - now plastic-free! And of course, you’re always welcome to use our reused cardboard boxes to see your food home.

However, there is still a long way for us to go on the road towards a plastic-free economy, and we welcome any ideas, encouragement, and urgence from you to prod us in the right direction and to eventually eradicate all avoidable plastic waste entirely!

Come along to Gold Hill this month and discover how, through a box of lovely fresh local veg, you can invest in a brighter ecological future for all.