Maureen Gahan, Foodservice Specialist, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board
Ireland’s first plastic-free café opened last week in University College Cork. All plastic drink bottles have been removed from the café and have been replaced with glass bottles and cans. Customers won’t find any plastic sachets of sauces, disposal cutlery, or plastic wrapped snacks. Instead, they can expect chocolate bars with traditional paper wrapping.
Just another example of the seismic industry shift that is taking place in response to growing consumer concerns about the environment and their drive to play a positive role by behaving more responsibly.
Also last week, Bord Bia’s updated Global Consumer Lifestyle Trends were re-launched, with ‘Responsible Living’ remaining firmly in place as one of the key five overarching trends.
According to the dedicated Trends website: Sustainability, crucially, is now not only understood as something restricted to environmental effects. It is a term which increasingly encompasses social and fiscal responsibility, and as such, we seek relationships with businesses who have ‘purpose beyond profit’ that have a tangible, net positive impact at every point in their value chain.
On Tuesday, 25th September, Bord Bia’s Origin Green team are hosting a dedicated sustainable packaging workshop for Verified Members of the Origin Green programme. In conjunction with Repak, the seminar will explore Sustainable Packaging in the Irish Food & Drink industry, discussing themes such as packaging trends, implementing design and ongoing challenges. For further information, please contact anna.ryan@bordbia.ie
For more information regarding this article please contact Maureen.gahan@bordbia.ie
