Mindful Chef | B Corp’s Post

Transcript

Miles and Giles here and today we're taking you on our packaging journey. And usually we're talking about the amazing recipes and ingredients inside the box, but today it's all about the box itself as we head out on the road to discover how we've created one of the most sustainable boxes on the market with our friends at Smurfit Westrock. To get started, we recycle our box. We've worked with Smurfit Westrock to build a fully closed loop system for our packaging, meaning it's built in the most sustainable way using recycled and recyclable materials. Recycling from all over the country comes this paper mill in Kent, 1 of Smurfit Westrock's 560 locations worldwide and over 70 in the UK alone. Here they process over 255,000 tonnes of recovered paper every single year. Now that's the equivalent to around 17,000 big bends in weight. So that means when you pop some paper into your recycling bin at home, it could very well be reused and turned into your mindful chef box in the future. From here, all this recycling has turned into pulp before it then undergoes the next stage of being transformed into these huge reels of paper. What's really special about this paper mill is that it uses 100% recycled feed and results in zero waste going to landfill. And while it takes a lot of water to make paper, they take water from the local river and circulate it as many times as they can, and after being thoroughly recycled, put around 80% of it back into the river. Another example of how Smurfit Westrock committed to being circular by nature. Let's go and meet Alistair to tell us a little more about Smurfit West Rocks eco credentials. Hi Alistair, you're the health and safety manager here at the Paper Mill. Now I'm guessing it takes a fair bit of energy to power this whole thing. So what a Smurfit Westrock doing to make it as green as possible? Indeed it does. We try and reuse as much as we can, as energy efficient as we can, but things like our wastewater, which still don't know what stream plant down there, that generates about 10% of our slight electricity all by itself when the gas we generate there, we're working tirelessly to reduce. Our on site here so we have a target net 0 by 2050. We've already reduced our fossil CO2 by 43% so we're well on our way to getting there. There were also eyes are certified for health, safety, energy and environmental controls. So we're doing everything we can to reduce our environmental impact. They're green and blue planet. Next stop Yate in Gloucestershire. The reels are delivered here, and inside this building is where the cardboard box material is formed. Let's go inside and take a look. Since they're carrying very precious cargo like our tasty Isle of Wight tomatoes, fresh herbs and sustainably sourced fish, the team at Smurfit Westrock then tests the strength of the cardboard in multiple ways. That means you never get any bruised tomatoes. They've also worked with us on the insulation of our coolbox, developing an industry leading sustainable way to keep your ingredients cool as they make their way from us to you using fully recyclable material. Let's head over to Meet Gordon to talk us through the next part of the process. I got it by miles. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too, Giles. Right. So what you gonna show us next? The board to come into the machines goes for our process. It goes through a set of order where we apply the print, we slot which forms the case, we add the glue, we fold the case all in one in line movement. Why do we do that? As many on a lorry as possibly we can get. Reduces the amount of lorries to reduce the carbon footprint for our customers and ourselves to meet our targets. And Gordon, how many boxes will a machine like this do an hour? A machine like this can do up to 25,000 boxes an hour, so I don't see you guys run out of boxes anytime soon. Next, these freshly printed boxes head to our warehouse in the Midlands where our freshest ingredients are ready to be packed. This is the final stop for our boxes before they're sent to you. Here the boxes are assembled and packed full of fresh ingredients. We seal the recipe boxes with glue, reducing the use of plastic tape. Smurfit W Swap has also provided us with state-of-the-art. Equipment to help make the process of building and sealing the boxes super efficient so we can get them out the door faster. And your food arrives fresh. Then all orders are loaded onto vans. Next stop your doorstep and then you're Mindful Chef recipe box ends up at your front door. You cook up a storm and as our boxes are 100% recyclable, you simply pop the empty box into your recycling and it ends up back here at the paper mill ready to start the process all over again by working with Smurfit Westrock. The world leader in sustainable packaging and who shares our passion for protecting our planet. We've created a bespoke, 100% recyclable solution for Mindful Chef with no waste and full transparency and traceability throughout the process. So there you have it, that's the journey into how we've worked with Smurfit Westrock to create one of the most sustainable boxes on the market.