Sustainable packaging

Grow Lightly has long been known to support the use of sustainable packaging in our processes, which for us means finding alternatives to using single use plastics whenever possible.

We pack our orders in cardboard boxes and paper or re-useable bags, these can be returned to Grow Lightly for re-use, just tear off your order label.

Order labels are printed on paper, which can be recycled or added to your worm farm or compost bin.

Many of our orders contain bunches of small produce or weighed out amounts that need to be contained like plums or nuts, so we pack these into paper bags, which we stock in many different shapes and sizes, and reuse when possible.

We also sometimes need to protect our produce with butchers paper, if a box is lightly soiled we will pop in a fresh layer of paper to keep the surface clean.

Occasionally we re-use plastic containers for berries or other easily damaged fruits, these containers can be washed, and returned with your cardboard box to be re-used time and time again.

Onion and nut netting bags can also be returned and re-used if they aren't torn open, carefully untie the knot, or if it is crimped, cut it just under the crimp so it can be tied in a knot the next time.

Disposing of these netted bags correctly is very important for wildlife too, birds and small mammals can easily get caught between the strings causing injury. If you must dispose of one, knot it several times, until no loose parts of netting are sticking out.

Plastic plant pots should be returned so the growers can clean them and plant seeds or seedlings in them many times over. Labels on the plant pots are usually made with washable chalk pen, paper masking tape or wooden icy-pole sticks, so they can be easily removed.

You may have seen the ingenuity from some of our growers themselves, Aiko recently supplied produce in little trays she made from paper plates, folded and secured to contain the cherry tomatoes for our orders. What a great way to use left over party supplies, or plates left over after camping or a summer barbecue.

We source our environmentally friendly packaging from a local source, abicor Southern

who are a South Gippsland and Bass Coast based business who specialise in supplying products for hospitality and commercial use.

Soiled egg cartons are very common as people often crack the egg and put the shell back into the hole while they are prepping and cooking, but it is not always safe to re-use these due to bacteria so pop the dirty ones into your compost or worm farm.

Egg cartons can be used to make great crafts and even used as little seedling pots as they will break down once planted into soil, remember to poke a small drainage hole in the base of each section to allow the roots to grow.

Speaking of soil, and worms, I recently received a package from the Melbourne company Wormly, who clearly care about sustainable packaging too!

Their packaging is cardboard, paper, jute twine, paper envelopes and biodegradeable plant based materials are used to create their 3D printed products, worm hotels, which are perfect for small space gardening.

Maybe you could think about how sustainable the packaging is at your workplace or club and be the one to bring up the issue if things could be changed. Perhaps you'd like to take a re-useable coffee cup with you to a cafe.

We encourage you to shop locally and reduce waste wherever possible, our customers know that buying their groceries from the Grow Lightly weekly online shop, or the monthly Farmers' Market means they are reducing the use of plastic packing from suppliers and supporting sustainable practices.