Refill Your Life

This week was World Refill Day, which is something we're pretty passionate about. Our Friday Dabba Feast Subscription is basically a refillable takeaway and we take back and re-use all the jars we send our salads and ferments out in. So we are asking everyone to think about using more refillable packaging. 

Putting packaging in the bin does not mean it's gone away - just passed on to someone else and we've got no idea what's happened to it. Scarily something like 90% of plastic is not recycled for one reason or another and financially we pay for it via the cost of what we buy and our council taxes.  We created our Wasted Kitchen Packaging Pyramid to make our decision making process easy

Here's a few things we can all be doing to make sure we re-use more

• Remember your water bottle. Most cafes these days offer refills and we are starting to see refill stations on council buildings like the one in Faversham Central Carpark.
• If you drink coffee on the run remember your own coffee cup.  Disposable and compostable coffee cups need specialist recycling facilities and most do not get recycled. Or stop running, sit down, smell the coffee and enjoy it from an old school cup. At The Refectory we don't offer takeaway cups and it's been great to see people choose to give themselves a bit of time.  
• Off to a Festival or event and going to have a drink - take your own 'glass' or tankard.  Pyrex style coffee cups make great wine or cocktail tumblers. Most compostable plastic glasses do not get composted. This is why we have switched back from compostable plastic to recyclable plastic for our retail salad containers.
• Check out your local refill businesses who will come and top up your detergents, sprays and shower gels.  A bit like the milk man but for soap.
• Get yourself some 'product bags' and buy loose fruit and veg - most of the individual packaging in supermarkets is there to encourage you to buy more (and some if it often gets wasted) and make supermarket operations easier. 
• Buy from businesses and organisations that support reusable packaging and are eco friendly - so that they can keep doing what they do. That's most small high street shops, farm shops and market traders.  You can refill on our salads and lots of other lovely deli goods at Macknade and Whitstable Produce.  Of the supermarkets the most refill friendly we've found is Morrisons who have a fresh fish and meat section where you can use your own packaging.
• If you are buying multipacks - and let's face it we could do with some savings - go for ones with cardboard or paper 'wrap' rather than plastic.  

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