New film! River Cottage Fair goes compostable with Vegware

River Cottage’s Spring Food Fair achieved an impressive 72% recycling rate by serving all food on Vegware compostable packaging; their best ever result. Our new film shows you how we did it.

Aiming to beat the UK event average of 15%, River Cottage trialled Vegware’s compostable packaging and recycling support. After the three-day event, 680kg of used takeaway packaging was composted with food waste at Viridor’s nearby composting facility. In less than 12 weeks this soil improver will be available to River Cottage’s gardens and local farmers.

Waste is a recent focus for River Cottage founder Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who caused a public outcry by revealing that only 1 in 400 UK coffee cups gets recycled. Most cups and used takeaway packaging instead goes to incineration or landfill, due to the challenge of recycling plastic-lined card with food contamination.

River Cottage’s mission to reduce waste led them to trial Vegware’s compostable packaging and recycling support.

Lucy Lomas, River Cottage Business Director says, “We are absolutely delighted with the recycling results from our Spring Food Fair. The key was getting everyone on board, from food traders at the event to our staff and most importantly our guests. The team at Vegware was fantastic and ensured all waste went in the correct bins through signage and communicating with customers. We are looking forward to our Festival in September where we hope to do even better!”

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