Compostable, Recyclable Packaging

At Eversfield Organic, we want to do all we can to help better the environment. You may be aware of the benefits of organic farming on soil, wildlife and animal health – plus human health too. Whilst our systems here on the farm, including closed-loop sustainability (using only materials from our farm in its continued running) and 100% pasture-fed livestock (producing premium meat that doesn’t harm the environment – and tastes amazing too!), are in place to make our business as sustainable as possible, we are always working to improve our efforts.

With this in mind, we continue to emphasise our compostable and recyclable packaging, plus our sustainable packaging return scheme. We know that as organic shoppers, our customers are by our side in protecting the Earth’s natural capital, so here’s how you can help too.

Our packaging

All our organic produce is packed in cardboard boxes that are 100% recyclable from home. Simply break the boxes down and pop them into your green rubbish bin. All orders are packaged with WoolCool liners and chilled product orders will also contain ice packs – all of which can be returned to us for free. The liners are made from natural sheep’s wool and, combined with the packs of ice, can keep boxes insulated and cool for up to 48 hours.

Returning Your Packaging for Free

For our regular customers, we try to make recycling and reusing our packaging as hassle-free as possible. This is why we introduced our sustainable packaging return scheme, allowing shoppers to send their packaging back to us (for free!) to reuse again and again. To ensure this scheme is as sustainable as can be, we ask that customers only send back a minimum of 4 sets of liners and ice packs each time. Here’s how it works:

1. When you receive an order, keep hold of your natural wool liners and ice packs.
2. Recycle any additional cardboard boxes via your household recycling scheme. Keep one box for loading your packaging into.
3. Every 4 weeks we’ll send you a free returns label along with your order. If you don’t happen to receive your label, you can download one here.
4. Once your box is full of 4 weeks’ worth of liners, seal it and apply your returns label.
5. Drop your box off at your nearest DPD Pickup Shop and it’ll make its way back to us. Find your nearest drop-off here.

Getting Creative

If you’re unable to return your packaging to us, there are many inventive ways to reuse the wool and ice packs. Some of our favourites include wrapping soft fruit plants in your veg patch, keeping rabbit hutches cosy, stopping your windscreen from frosting or stuffing pillows and quilts.

When it comes to ice packs, stick them in the freezer and use them in your next cool box or keep tomorrow’s packed lunch perfectly chilled. If your fridge is already overflowing with organic produce, you can always empty the liquid gel from the packs down the drain (the gel is not harmful, but we don’t recommend pouring it onto your plants!) and send the plastic to recycling.

If you reuse or recycle any of our packaging in a different way, we’d love to hear your suggestions! Let us know on social media – Instagram: @eversfield_organic, Twitter: @eversfieldorg, Facebook: Eversfield Organic.

Composting at Home

The sheep’s wool liners are also compostable from home, so if you’re not reusing or sending back to us you can add the liners to your own compost heap. As Sheep’s wool is natural fibre, it will break down in 6 to 12 months. The aim of composting is to return nutrients to the soil. With nutritious soil comes healthy plants that produce delicious, organic fruit and veg. Composting is one way our farm works towards a closed loop sustainability model and uses waste to improve productivity. This is one of the reasons we’ve made almost all of our product packaging compostable. Add your cardboard mushroom trays, brown fruit and veg bags as well as any green veg waste to your compost heap for the perfect balance of ‘browns’ and ‘greens’ – to find out more about this, head to our Composting blogpost.

Wondering what to put in your compost bin? Getting recycling and composting right may seem a little daunting, but just remember not to add any glass, metal or plastic, meat, fish, dairy or fatty oils to your compost heap. This type of waste can disrupt the nutrient-rich structure of other waste that breaks down quicker. As for recycling, you can always look out for the recyclable symbol.

Diverting more waste away from damaging the environment, presenting a positive contribution to reducing levels of pollution and conserving resources by lowering the number of new materials needed are just a few of the ways composting, recycling and reusing packaging can help the environment.