As environmental awareness has grown in recent years, so too has the conversation around business responsibility, and how we can operate in an effective yet sustainable manner.
Since launching in 2017, Tayybeh has maintained consistent measures to help protect the planet. These include using a minimal amount of packing per order, packaging our food in containers that are recyclable and reusable and cooking with delicious vegan ingredients to provide meal options that are not only vegan and vegetarian friendly, but environmentally aware, too.
It’s also important to us that who we work with aligns with our own values. We have partnered with some fantastic local companies who are instrumental in promoting more environmentally sustainable business models.
For Earth Day 2021, we wanted to shine a spotlight on some of our favourite Vancouver companies to work with. Their business models are rooted in how to best protect our environment, promote sustainability and approach business operations in 2021 in as responsible and respectful a manner as possible.
Fresh Prep
As a Certified B Corporation, Vancouver-based Fresh Prep provides people across British Columbia with a sustainable solution to food preparation. It delivers fresh, high-quality ingredients so BC residents can create chef-quality recipes cooked at home.
Fresh Prep believes that the onus to be sustainable should not fall on the consumer, and that businesses are now responsible for changing the tide on plastic waste. Its meal kits are prepared and packaged locally, with over 75% of ingredients and add-on items supplied by local companies.
In the pursuit of sustainability, Fresh Prep’s new Zero Waste Kit packaging solution aims to provide a solution to the problem of single-use plastic waste. The Kit itself is made up of a BPA-free, reusable plastic and silicon container that is delivered in a reusable, insulated cooler bag. Currently, Fresh Prep estimates around 19g of single-use plastic will be saved per Meal Kit using the Zero Waste Kit, which customers return to Fresh Prep for cleaning before reuse.
At scale, if all Fresh Prep customers regularly ordered Zero Waste Kits each week, the company would be diverting 500kg of soft plastic waste per week, which is the same weight as a mini caravan.
Zero Waste recipes will be denoted with a badge on the website, and customers will be able to select these recipes up to four weeks in advance.
Jarr
The more times we can use packaging, the less of a negative impact it has on the world. Jarr (with two ‘R’s for ‘Reduce’ and ‘Reuse’) offers package-free and low-waste groceries, personal care and household supplies, delivered to your door in returnable containers by a Modo Car Co-op vehicle or Shift bike delivery.
Jarr was founded in June 2020 by Emily Sproule, and operates in North Vancouver, Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster and Bowen Island. Its mission is to simplify zero waste living by reducing the amount of packaging waste that is needed in the world in a convenient model that fits in with our busy lives.
Jarr’s products are locally sourced, organic and vegetarian. They include Tayybeh's falafel, hummus, mutabbal and pita chips. The company uses standard glass Mason jars, made for canning that customers can send back to be used again and again (much like the old glass milk bottle model).
The idea is that, because of the intrinsic value of the mason canning jar, people are less likely to put them in their garbage or blue bin. Instead, they’re more likely to become part of the circular economy instead of as a single-use container.
The team at Jarr believes that resusables are the future, and they’re excited to see other companies with circular business models popping up more and more often. Jarr hopes this growth in businesses utilizing reusables will continue until the whole world is on board.
Livlite
Vancouver-based Livlite is on a mission to source products as locally as possible, keeping its footprint light and supporting small businesses in local communities.
The Livlite team often partner with businesses who don’t have a zero waste model, and work with them to find a way Livlite can carry their products package free - or as close to package free as possible.
Education plays a big role in Livlite’s business process. The company constantly educates itself when sourcing new products, and is transparent with its customers about this journey. Most people don’t have the time to look into if the “compostable” bin liner actually is compostable in Vancouver (it isn’t, say Livlite), or why a zero waste store is selling canned goods, if you can’t reuse the can.
This opens the door for discussions about how aluminum is infinitely recyclable, or larger conversations about greenwashing, local government policies, and current changes happening here in Vancouver.
Livlite knows its customers want to make the best choice for their families and for the environment, but the most sustainable choice often isn’t the most convenient or the most affordable. Livlite does the research for its customers, so they can trust that buying groceries with them is impactful.
Nada Grocery
Nada is a package-free grocery grocery delivery service whose mission it is to connect people to food as it comes. It champions a community food system by linking buyers to suppliers and offering healthy, local and unpackaged products and services. Its vision is simple: healthy people = healthy planet.
Nada works hard to connect people to food in its simplest form in an attempt to spark conversations about the world’s food system. By supporting Nada, you’re not only supporting local businesses but also championing a community food system that links buyers to suppliers who offer healthy, unpackaged goods.
Here are a few ways Nada is promoting more responsible business practices:
Nada is working to increase its impact model tracking by improving engagement and transparency throughout the company. One project it conducts annually is a supplier survey that collects information and keeps them up to date on supplier efforts.
Survey results and follow-up meetings allow Nada to gather environmental tracking information and better understand the supplier process in a more holistic way. Through these surveys, Nada are able to ask their suppliers about things such as their growing practices, labour policies, and what kind of packaging they use in order for Nada to chat solutions and further support one other.
Nada is constantly looking at ways it can understand its customers better, and how it can gather important information on the experience its supporters have - both at the door and online.
Understanding what people want from Nada and how the company can best serve its community is a process Nada is dedicated to, in order to make what they do an option for many.
Nada has conducted a Carbon Footprint Analysis regarding its operations and business model, in order to take responsibility for the carbon it encounters within its operations.
With this analysis, Nada has identified greenhouse gas emission “hotspots” within its operations, and is using this analysis to identify mitigative actions the company can take to reduce its overall carbon footprint.
For emissions outside of its control, Nada is looking to offset through Climate Neutral, a carbon offset program.
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