Wasted Kitchen choose to Refill
Find out how this has benefitted their business.
Wasted Kitchen was established in 2018 by Katy and Rob to reduce waste by getting surplus back into the food cycle and minimising packaging. Not only are they creating great tasting food whilst creating positive change, this World Refill Day, we are celebrating their commitment to Refill and Reuse.
The food delivery service provided by Waste Kitchen partners with local producers, such as Macknade, to create salads, dips, ferments and other selections. These items are delivered in metal tins or glass jars which are returned to Wasted Kitchen by customers, preventing the need for throwaway packaging.
Since the success of the delivery service, Wasted Kitchen has opened a café: The Refectory at Monks Hill Farm, Faversham. Katy and team didn’t want to undo the great work they had done removing single-use packaging from their business and opened the café without the offer of takeaway cups. Drinks are served ‘dine in style’ or in the trust that customers will bring the mug back when they’re done if they’re exploring some of the other businesses on the farm.
When speaking to Katy, the experience of this has been extremely positive. The majority of customers are not phased by the lack of throw away cups – those that remember to bring their own reusable cup welcome the £1 discount on their coffee. Others ordering a hot drink to takeaway actually find that they weren’t in as much of a rush as they thought and enjoy the opportunity to stop and take the time to sit down to enjoy their drink.
Wasted Kitchen has also partnered with Plastic Free Faversham to sell their reusable cups, both organisations supporting Swale’s Refill Scheme. After living on a ship in the pacific for a year, with nowhere to throw away rubbish, Katy wanted to bring this ethos back to Faversham – waste doesn’t go away just because you’ve thrown it in the bin!
Wasted Kitchen follows the below principles:
“Sustainability - Waste reduction, circularity, using surplus, using local, reducing single use packaging and eliminating single use plastics is core to what we do.
Contribution - We are here to be a force for positive change within our own business and beyond. We support each other and we share what we do with others to make that happen.
Creativity - We are creative in what we do and we support others to be creative because it helps us make positive change and it brings us joy.
Excellence - Everything we do should ‘pop’ and give us, and others, the motivation, the example and the support to do more and fulfil what we are possible of. Ask the question ‘does it pop’.
Ultimately we measure ourselves by our financials (which are important to us because they show that it is possible for a commercial business to do this) and how we deliver against these values.”
2.5 billion coffee cups are used and thrown away each year in the UK – enough to stretch around the world roughly five and a half times. Swale has joined the Refill campaign, set up by City to Sea, to connect people to the places they can eat, drink and shop without the pointless packaging. Anyone can download the free Refill app to tap into a global network of places to reduce, reuse and refill. From a coffee on your commute, to drinking water on the go, or even shopping with less plastic, Refill puts the power to go packaging free at your fingertips.
With more than 30,000 Refill Stations accepting reusables globally, over 300,000 app downloads and 100 million pieces of plastic avoided to date, Refill has the power to create a wave of change and stop plastic pollution at source.
You can download the app for free and find the below businesses which are happy to take you reusable cup or bottle and provide a refill – most offer free water refills, while other offer a discount on your hot drink. Not only is this more convenient but can help save money – and the planet. Many businesses also have the Swale refill sign in their windows to indicate to passers by that they are part of the movement.
Sign up your business now: https://www.refill.org.uk/get-involved/ and email climate@swale.gov.uk to let us know!