Celebrating (beyond) Plastic-Free July

The month of July has great meaning to us. When the rest of the world is celebrating Plastic-Free July, we are celebrating what we have done to reduce the amount of plastic used here at Yum. We've made a lot of sacrifices to remove over 90% of plastic from all our packaging (three channels here in NZ) and proud to say all of our retail packaging is free of plastic. This choice alone has saved over 20T of plastic (plastic for this conversation will be defined as petrochemical or petroleum-based plastic) from being used, which further reduces the amount going to the landfill ('away' is what most people call it..as in 'we are going to throw it away) and to the oceans. This is progress and something we are proud to continue.  

Reducing plastic is not a destination but an ongoing journey for us here at Yum. We'll never be all the way there, but we are doing all we can each day to do our best. From recycling the soft plastic sent to us for our ingredients, to using paper tape on our boxes, we are very conscious of our footprint with an almost insatiable desire to find new ways to do even better. 

But it comes at a cost. This is obvious as we are the only ones in our category that offer a solution without plastic in our packaging. Why aren't the others doing it? Because it costs money. It costs their GP margin and profit and most are unwilling to give up a little to care for the planet.

We also can't have a conversation about plastic and packaging without giving a massive shout out to all the refilleries we supply (sans packaging) and our incredible Honesty Box, eliminating the need for locals here in Nelson to use packaging with a BYO container solution. We love these ideas that work to reduce and be resourceful!

For us, we see no other way. This is who we are as humans-- wanting to care for our planet and using Yum as a vehicle to do it better and greater. We often get asked how we are sustainable or 'at what point did you start being sustainable'? The truth is we have been from the beginning of Yum. Sustainability is not an option. It's not a certificate we pay for. It is just something we do.

With that, we thank our loyal customers because the more we/Yum/Bushlines grow, the more impact we have to do good and care for our people and the planet.