This article was originally published by FourGoods Co.

In November 2017 the final episode of David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II aired on the BBC. Viewers were shocked to find the reality of our plastic-filled oceans floating across their Sunday-night screens. Yet Attenborough’s rallying cry that “the future of all life now depends on us” seems to have woken people up to the impact of plastic waste. The BBC announced that they would ban all single-use plastics by 2020. The series apparently “haunted” Michael Gove into focusing more on plastic waste reduction, and many UK families are following suit.

In 2016 the UK spent around 9.9 billion pounds on take-away meals. Each year the amount of take-away meals eaten by UK citizens appears to be on the rise. While take-away food can be a quick, easy and delicious choice, the amount of plastic waste associated with food deliveries is huge. Just Eat conducted a survey asking their customers whether they felt they needed the plastic cutlery, sacheted sauces and straws that come with their food deliveries. 74% of consumers responded saying they did not need these items. Additionally, 49% of consumers added that they would be more likely to go to a restaurant if they didn’t use single-use plastic items.

With awareness surrounding plastic waste growing, consumers are beginning to shift their wasteful habits, and companies are being forced to follow. But if plastic is forever banned by the big guys then what could replace it?

Enter The Skipping Rocks Lab, a sustainable packaging start-up based in London. This innovative company are not only choosing to ditch the plastic, but to offer up alternatives that are good for the planet and good for us. Using natural materials made from plants and seaweed, The Skipping Rocks Lab is proof that a world with no packaging is possible, and it might even be right around the corner.

At the beginning of the year, Just Eat partnered with The Skipping Rocks Lab to support the research and development of package-free alternatives. Graham Corfield, the UK managing director of Just Eat commented that “many of the plastics polluting our oceans are by-products of food and drink consumption […] We are using our influence to drive more environmentally-friendly behaviour among our partners and customers”.

One of the first innovations created by The Skipping Rocks Lab is Ooho, a water bottle with a difference. Ooho is made solely from plants and seaweed, will biodegrade in 4-6 weeks and is edible. Less like a large plastic water bottle, Ooho is more of a mini round pod the size of your palm. Ooho was designed to “provide the convenience of plastic bottles without the environmental impact”. While the product is only being sold at events currently, the development of sustainable products like these could be a massive game-changer. Not only does the research of The Skipping Rocks Lab offer insight into the bright future ahead in terms of plastic alternatives, but the fact that big businesses like Just Eat are getting on board could make our transition to these kinds of products even faster.

A key lesson to take from this is that we, as consumers, have a great influence on the actions that the companies we choose to buy from take; as consumers, we are at the forefront of demanding a change when it comes to plastic waste. A package-free world is entirely achievable, we just need to speak up and let companies and organisations know that it is an issue we care about and feel they need to address.

Words: Rebecca Tyers
Originally published here.

This article was originally published by FourGoods Co.

On a Saturday at 7am the streets of Brixton are silent. As I make my way further out to London’s southern suburbs the sun rises in milky hues. My destination is a plot of land by a main road; blink and you might not even notice it as you pass by. From the outside it may seem little more than some fields with a big red tractor in the middle, but it is in fact Sutton Community Farm, a 7-acre farm where I spent many long, hot days last summer digging, planting and harvesting vegetables. It seems a little odd to mention the words ‘farm’ and ‘London’ in the same sentence, but London is surprisingly teeming with spaces that are used to grow food, educate communities and place control over food choices back into the hands of local people.

We are all used to being bombarded daily by food advertising; we are told where to eat, when to eat and what to eat to feel good, look good and live good. The food industry plays a huge role in each of our everyday lives, having a strong influence over the information we are fed concerning the food we consume. In response to this, many communities around the world are using the act of growing food and local food projects as a political message – a message of defiance against large food companies that value profit over bringing healthy, affordable food to local communities.

Food has long been a subject of political tension; access to affordable, healthy food has become increasingly more difficult due to the rise of the fast food industry, which began around the 1950’s. The fast food industry in the United States is worth approximately 198.9 billion U.S. dollars. By 2020, this figure is forecasted to exceed 223 billion. Fast food has taken over worldwide and created an even larger gap between consumers and the production of their food.

For many poor urban populations accessing healthy food can be a challenge. In Baltimore, Maryland a local school group started an after school urban gardening club for youth in under-served Baltimore city communities. Aside from teaching children about the origins of their food, these kinds of projects offer a safe space, away from the streets, for kids to learn and grow. Projects like this enable communities to take the safety and education of their children into their own hands, while teaching them about their food choices.

As the popularity of fast food continues to rise, access to healthy options, especially in poorer or more remote locations, is increasingly difficult. An issue worldwide in terms of food access has been that of ‘food deserts’, areas in which access to healthy, fresh food is near impossible. In response to this, projects, such as The Green Machine Mobile Food Market and the Fresh Moves mobile produce market, have been using buses to transport locally grown fresh vegetables to food deserts. Without these kinds of projects local people living in food deserts would be dependent on the only food options available to them, which are most often fried and definitely not fresh or locally grown.

As long as man has walked upon the earth eating food has been a communal activity; a time to share stories and understand one another through the tastes and joy we share over the food we eat. Growing food can offer the same deep interactions and education, and as many of the food-growing projects happening worldwide show, it can also be a strong political response to some of the greatest issues facing local communities worldwide.

Words: Rebecca Tyers
Originally published here.

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