Our Approach to Sustainability at Olive My Pickle}

Our Approach to Sustainability at Olive My Pickle

APRIL 2023

At Olive My Pickle, we’re making strides towards more sustainable business practices. We’ve been working on these changes for a while and are excited to tell you all about them!  

ANNOUNCING PLASTIC NEUTRAL IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CLEANHUB

Starting in April 2023, Olive My Pickle has partnered with CleanHub to attain Plastic Neutral status! CleanHub is an international organization that works to clean up plastic before it enters the ocean. We chose to work with CleanHub because in addition to their mission, their technology provides a degree of visibility and transparency around their work, so that we can all see exactly what is happening in the Hubs, in real time. 

CleanHub has several Hubs throughout island nations in Southeast Asia, places that are highly polluted and also within close proximity to the ocean. Once plastic enters the ocean, it sinks to the bottom and is very difficult to remove. This is why CleanHub focuses on the collection of plastic prior to it entering ocean waters. 

What does it mean for Olive My Pickle to be a Plastic Neutral brand? It means that a portion of each sale here at OMP goes toward the collection of ocean bound plastic. Olive My Pickle is a sponsor of CleanHub’s No Trash Triangle, located in Indonesia. Through this partnership, Olive My Pickle will offset our plastic contribution by 100% in 2023. 

 

  

ANNOUNCING 904 LOCAL "REUSE IT" CAMPAIGN 

We’re announcing our own campaign within our local community, here and now!

Coming in May of 2023, Olive My Pickle is eliminating the use of plastic containers at our farmers markets. We are switching to a sturdy, liquid-friendly paper option for both pints and quarts. We will be increasing prices for products purchased in these paper cups. 

However, any customer that brings their own containers for reuse (plastic or glass is fine) will be rewarded with continued access to our current, lower prices. 

We personally understand how hard it can be to remember to bring your own containers to the farmers markets! Our goal is to incentivize our customers to more easily adopt these new habits by giving  them a significant 25% discount. Together we will make these positive changes!

EARTH FRIENDLY PACKAGING FROM OMP

You can feel good about what goes in your box. Fermented foods do not require the use of Styrofoam and dry ice.

 

Frequently Asked Questions:

Why do you package in plastic?

We do use plastic to package our products here at Olive My Pickle. We’ve researched alternatives such as PCR (post consumer recycled), bioplastics like PLA and compostables, but these are not yet viable options for shipping our heavier, liquid products. 

As demand rises from consumers and manufacturers to find more sustainable plastic solutions, the plastic industry will continue to innovate  bioplastic and compostable products that companies with products like ours can use. 

In the meantime, we’re doing what we can to put our money where our mouth is, offsetting our contribution by attaining Plastic Neutral status with CleanHub.

Why not package your products in glass? 

It’s an understandable question. Years ago, when Olive My Pickle sold on grocery store shelves, we packaged our products in glass jars. However, our move online required us to find a more flexible packaging option. 

That’s because glass can break in transit. Most glass shipped through the mail requires extensive plastic bubble wrap to protect it from breakage. Although glass is considered the “greener” option, we’ve learned there’s more to the story.  

Did you know that virgin glass is made from non renewable sand that is typically  dredged from coastal habitats? And surprisingly, producing glass actually creates far more carbon emissions than the production of plastic. The transport and storage of glass is costlier than plastic where fossil fuels are concerned due to its weight and volume.  Finally, when glass is not recycled and ends up in a landfill,  it takes one million years to degrade—by contrast, plastic is between 400-1000 years. (Study: Brock and Williams, Lifecycle Assessment of Beverage Packaging, Detritus: Multidisciplinary Journal for Waste Resources & Residues, 2019.) 

All that said, we love reusing glass containers! That’s why we are partnering with our local community to Reuse It, a campaign we launched at our farmers markets whereby we give a 25% discount to our customers to bring their own containers.

OMP, are you claiming that plastic is a greener option than glass?

No, we are presenting the facts and busting the myth that glass is a sustainable choice. The truth is that neither glass or plastic are truly sustainable. We’re living at the crossroads of the plastic age and the information age. Our awareness of our dependence on plastic conflicts with our knowledge that things must change. Beyond household recycling and practicing conscience consumption, what else can we do? Here are three ideas: 

  • As consumers and manufacturers, pressuring packaging companies to continue to innovate. This is already happening, but it takes time for the technology to develop. At OMP, we are participating in this effort and staying aware of the latest innovations. We will adopt better options when they exist. 
  • “Plastic doesn’t walk itself into the oceans. People do that.” This is a quote from the CEO of CleanHub.  Better waste management systems that support a more circular economy are key. Learn what you can about the next-generation efforts already taking place in your area. Engage with these and support them.  
  • Reuse where and when you can. The free forum Buy Nothing is like a Craigslist for free stuff and there’s a local online chapter in your area. Simply post anything you have to give away and someone in your community will pick up your stuff. This is an option for things that you cannot typically donate to thrift stores but are not garbage. Many of our customers upcycle the boxes, insulated packing materials and ice packages they receive with their OMP orders through Buy Nothing.  

To close, we’ll quote rockstar Anne Marie Bonneau, known as the Zero Waste Chef who said it well, “We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.”

Thank you for reading and we’ll update this page as we continue to evolve our sustainability journey here at Olive My Pickle.