Don't get us wrong, plant milk is already a whole lot more sustainable than dairy, and oat is amongst the best. In fact for each litre of oat milk you chug, it saves 💧 580 litres of water & ☁️ 2.3kg of CO₂. Now that really adds up over a lifetime.
The 1st problem with milk cartons is that they're bulky & heavy which requires more materials and energy to produce.
🧅 The 2nd problem is that, like onions (and ogres...) they're made of multiple layers of materials including plastic, aluminium and cardboard. This makes them really difficult to recycle, in fact last year only 29.5% of cartons in the UK actually ended up being recycled! 🤯
🔎 We searched far and wide for sustainable options. We wanted something lightweight and easy to recycle whilst also offering protection to the oat milk powder (to avoid food waste 🗑️). We found that paper packaging didn't sufficiently protect from moisture and whilst biodegradeable packaging looks great on the surface, the reality is that it can actually cause more damage to the planet if not properly disposed of (requires a compost heap).
We opted for a super lightweight 100% recyclable pouch which takes the place of 8 regular cartons. This represents a 91% reduction ⬇️ in packaging weight, offers great moisture protection (preventing food waste), and importantly is only made from one material so is much easier to recycle. The pouch is digitally printed using carbon neutral methods and been verified by Recycle Now ♻️ please see our information about how to recycle your pouch.
Of course, we are always looking at ways we can be more sustainable and this includes packaging. In the future we hope to offer the choice of compostable pouches, so that those with access to a compost heap can dispose of the packaging this way. We also now offer Overherd in a small number of zero waste stores eliminating packaging altogether! ❌ If there's a packaging type you think we should consider drop us an email team@overherd.uk.
We want to cause a bit of a stir, and make other brands evaluate how products reach consumers. Dehydration is just one example. If there's something you think we could improve or make more sustainable, please let us know!
