Sustainability Growing Our Damson are not sprayed. Our orchardist does however spray weeds that sprout around the base of the trees. Our trees are rigorously pruned annually and the cuttings are used to grow more trees. Irrigation water comes from the orchards bore. Food Waste At harvest, waste product is returned to the soil beneath the trees to decompose In the kitchen, all plum waste from frozen whole plums post cooking goes to a local pig farmer to be used as stock food Ingredients Purchasing, is done as seldom as possible; we do this to reduce the product packaging involved in each order (packaging to ingredient ratio) Packaging (boxes, bubble wrap, brown paper etc) is reused, where possible, and recycled otherwise (this is why you may see our suppliers branding on some of our wholesale orders - often Arthur Holmes or Gilmours) Cardboard Shippers All of our cardboard shippers are: FSC certified Made from 100% recycled content A high enough standard to re-use or repurpose (we actively encourage retailers and online customers to do this) Product Packing & Labels Glass is one of the most environmentally friendly materials used in food packaging. The manufacturing process is often closed loop, meaning the end-of-life material can be used to remake the exact same product - in this case, another glass container. This process can be repeated over and over again, therefore, glass is referred to as, infinitely recyclable. All of our glass is recyclable Food jars and bottles are made by Arthur Homes Liqueur bottles are made by Saver Glass in France Energy Use We turn off all power when we leave our warehouse (most companies leave printers, computers and a light or two on overnight). We use low energy consumption bulbs. We monitor power use very closely. We have invested in low energy consumptions electronics (computers, printers, fridges and more) Transportation We have chosen to centralise our distribution in Auckland in order to respond more economically to our biggest market. We send our products out in the smallest practical box (usually about .007m3 or smaller), even though our contract with NZ Post allows up to .03m3 - this saves space on the truck and allows the same truck to take more product with each trip thus reducing our overall carbon footprint. People All of our employees (contract or otherwise) are paid well above the Living Wage. We are a certified Living Wage Employer.