Mission "R" - Creating a sustainable bird food offering

Isn't that what you'd expect from a trusted bird food company? We think so.

The World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) 2018 Living Planet Index reports a global wildlife population loss of 60 percent between 1970 and 2014. The report, which tracks over 4,000 species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians, is published every two years. Amongst other things, the harmful impacts of manufacturing driven by consumer demand is quite rightly under the spotlight and we’re determined to come clean and put our house in order, to reduce, reuse, and recycle. We aim to be a fully sustainable provider of world-class bird food diets and reassure you that we have the planet’s best interests in every decision we make.

Lots of the things we throw away haven’t always reached the end of their useful life. These items can still be used by someone else. It’s easy to confuse the terms re-use and recycling. Re-use is better for the environment as items are kept in use longer. This reduces waste, creates jobs, has a positive social impact and reduces consumption and associated carbon impacts.

Getting started with recycling is easy, we just need to know what we can recycle and where; recycling saves energy as it takes a lot less energy to create a product from recycled material than producing new products from raw materials, which in turn reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill.

Welcome to Mission "R"

REDUCE

RE-USE

RECYCLE

We have switched to 100% renewable electricity

We have reduced the amount of plastic woven sacks used to transport orders

More orders are being delivered in recyclable paper sacks

We have introduced an online digital brochure to reduce the number of printed paper catalogues, which means less C02 being released into the atmosphere

Internally, we discourage the printing of emails and - if they must be printed - are printed in black and white (to cut down on the use of colour cartridges) and on both sides of the paper, to reduce the amount of paper we use in the office

We have introduced three electric cars as part of our fleet and many staff members lift share to reduce C02

We operate from under one hi-tech roof in Lincolnshire, which means we can manufacturer, pick, pack and despatch our goods from one site and cut down on road miles

We have efficient roof-lights in the manufacturing zones to allow natural daylight to enter the building, which is better for the team and reduces our energy consumption

Our office lights are turned off to make the most of natural daylight - again, this reduces our energy consumption

We turn lights off when we leave a room empty (unless there's a colleague relying upon the light)

We turn our computers and devices off at night

We encourage phones, tablets or computers for note-taking, which means less reliance on paper

We've handed over space to nature and planted native shrubs to encourage wildlife

We are on the hunt to use recycled copier paper and envelopes for when we do need to use these products (for admin purposes)

We actively encourage customers to re-use polypropylene woven sacks

We re-use good quality cardboard boxes to send our goods in and shred cardboard to use for packing materials, which means we can avoid bubble wrap plastic to protect products

We’ve introduced a jute bag for life to our range of products

We invite customers who purchase through the shop to return packaging, which can subsequently be re-used for another order

We upcycle office equipment and stationary. We have a dedicated area within the office where we store items such as pens, folders and labels which can be re-used

We've reused old containers from our warehouse to refine our recycling habits even further, and these are utilised on a weekly basis

We use refillable cleaning products within our toilet and canteen areas to reduce our plastic consumption

We've introduced an eco-friendly Duck Food Pouch, crafted from 100% reused cotton for sustainable trips to the park or pond

Waste paper and plastics are separated and recycled

The raw materials that are not needed go to a local recycling plant to be recycled

Labels are taken off our shrink wrap, which is then recycled

We actively encourage our staff to recycle food packaging within our canteen area

Through our education section on our website we share activity ideas on how families can recycle in a fun and engaging way

Why launch Mission "R"?

We’re doing this because, it’s better for Britain’s wildlife. Our birding community wants to know that it's supporting a company that truly cares about birds and the environment. One that doesn't pay lip-service by printing a huge corporate document that’s unlikely to be read, and then not acting on it – we think action speaks louder than words. We think the environment and the birds are now safer with Haith’s.

Update: We’re always looking for inventive ways to re-use and recycle resources and we recently came up with what we thought was a ballistic idea to dress one of the directors as a spaceman to re-use the boxes. We’re not quite sure why the idea didn’t catch on; we thought that it was a great look!

Until we manage to convince him it makes sense to dress as a spaceman daily, we came up with the idea of re-using the cardboard boxes to send out some of the orders we despatch daily from the bird food centre here in Lincolnshire.

We hope you’ll approve of our extra efforts to reduce our dependence on packaging materials and giving a cardboard box an extra chance to do what they are made to do.

Since publishing our blog, we have now gone even further and are investing more in zero-carbon energy to enhance our commitment to sustainability as part of our ongoing Mission R initiative. But what exactly does this involve? It signifies that Haith's holds a Zero Carbon Certificate, ensuring that 100% of the electricity powering our operations is backed by a mix of renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin.

In addition to the above, did you know that if you select ‘Shop Pay’ online at check out, that you’ll be helping to plant a tree?

By applying ‘Shop Pay’ as your payment method, Shopify will commit to reducing the environmental impact of deliveries . To find out more please visit - Go carbon-neutral with your Haith's bird food delivery.