Thinking Outside the (veg) Box

The story of our beautiful bags: We wanted to share with you the story behind our packaging because we think it's a nice example of how we're really trying to think outside the (veg) box and do things differently at Community Roots. Hopefully it will also help you to understand why it's really important to us that we get your bags and boxes back each week

Bags/boxes...what to choose... While planning our scheme, we had to work out what to put the veg in for you. There are lots of options out there being used by other veg box/bag schemes, including sturdy cardboard boxes, foldable boxes, organic jute bags. We looked at the pros and cons of each; our solution had to be practical, but also, very importantly, it had to be properly sustainable and have as low an environmental impact as possible. We were leaning towards organic jute bags, but then had a lightbulb moment, realising that whatever we bought to use, we were still creating new stuff. Surely this world of ours already has more than enough "stuff"? We started wondering about just asking for everyone to raid their cupboards for "Bags for Life" (if you're anything like me, you have a "bag for life" stuffed full of other "bags for life" at the back of a cupboard somewhere). We realised this felt right; it wasn't necessarily pretty in a conventional way, but if we start to see beauty in things which protect our planet, rather than in the things we're told look good, then actually this is a truly beautiful solution. When we told this idea to our wonderful Becky (creative genius and master of making things look amazing, AKA The Sewing Lady), she felt she could go even further. She sourced a couple of wonderful old canvas tents and an old sail, and got to work making our glorious bags. (You may see the odd toggle or label on your bag, harking back to it's original incarnation). She set to work (a Herculean effort) and made us the bags you have received your veg in so far; things of utter beauty in both a conventional and an environmental sense. We still have a few more to make to get to the number we really need, so if you have an old canvas tent sitting in a shed somewhere, please give it to us so we can reincarnate it as a carrier for our delicious veg! Plastic vs. paper bags...elastic bands... The other issue was what to put veg in which need to be packed separately (beans, tomatoes, loose leaf salad etc.). And what about things in bunches (carrots, spring onions etc.); do they need rubber bands? We definitely didn't want to use single-use plastic bags, but paper bags, while recyclable/compostable, actually have a higher carbon footprint than plastic, while "compostable" plastics have their own issues (most aren't home compostable, and once again, they involve making something new, which comes with a carbon footprint). This time the solution came in the form of the Moomaid Ice cream tubs which you get each week. While it is far from ideal that Moomaid aren't able to reuse or recycle their tubs, we are happy to be able to repurpose at least some of them to remove the need for any single use packaging from our veg bag scheme :) We're very happy with our solutions, and think the photo below shows how they compare very favourably to supermarkets!

Aldi vs. Community Roots

We want to say a massive Thank You Amy (of the Eco Park Press) for making the stencil so we could brand them with our gorgeous logo (designed by the very talented Ruby Ingleheart).