Have you thought about how many plastics you use in your everyday life? Over 660 thousand tonnes of plastic waste are created by Australians every year with 85% of soft plastics from bags and packaging ending up in landfill.
As Plastic Free July kicks off, a leading sustainable products business Munch is celebrating a massive plastic-free milestone – 1 million pieces of plastic have been saved from landfill by buying their plastic-free reusable alternatives since the business was established in 2014.
“Hitting this 1 million milestone is a Munch customer community achievement! By choosing our reusable products over the years, together we have saved all that plastic from being used and sent to the landfill,” says Anna Bordignon, founder and director of Munch.
The Munch team is now working on doubling that amount, targeting 2 million pieces of plastic to be saved by 2023. They continue to offer new plastic-free alternatives for the kitchen and laundry and are now stocked in IGA and leading health food shops, seeing the demand for affordable reusable products increase in recent years.
The number of pieces of plastic saved by customers buying Munch is an estimate, which Bordignon says is based on the number of reusable food wraps, snack bags and other reusable products the business has produced since starting in 2014. Each of those Munch items has replaced 100s and possibly 1000s of pieces of single-use plastic as they are re-used time and again by New Zealand and Australian households.
“Since the beginning, we have focused on bringing fun, useful, quality products out which are affordable for everyday families. It’s important to be appealing and accessible to most people – to empower them to be more sustainable,” says Bordignon.
The Munch team have been advocating for reducing use of plastics in daily life for many years and welcome the Government plans to phase out single use and hard to recycle plastics.
Munch have been a strong voice in plastic-free campaigns over several years and are a leader in product stewardship projects developing more sustainable products and the latest Munch project which is to collect and repurpose silicone in New Zealand and soon in Australia. The Silicone Send Back project collects any brand of food grade silicone products no longer being used and is a first project of its kind across Australasia to start repurposing post-consumer silicone. There are now several collection points for food grade silicone set up in the community, in retail stores and resource recovery centres.
From the recognisable bright and fun organic cotton prints in their beeswax wraps and snack bags, through to innovative new kitchen and laundry products, Munch considers both the sustainability and social impacts of all parts of its business – from the local operations to their Fairtrade international suppliers, they carefully choose biodegradable materials where possible and make as many products as possible locally.
Founded by New Zealander Anna Bordignon in 2014, Munch is pure and simple in design and function, eco-friendly and plastic free, with nearly all the products being reusable, organic and biodegradable. The range includes reusable Beeswax Snack Bags, Organic Litterless Lunch Bags, Silicone Baby Feeders, Bamboo Cutlery Sets, Bamboo Dish Brushes, Eco Dishcloths and Organic Fire Starters with even more innovative products now available in Australia.
“Munch has been at the forefront of plastic-free alternatives.” Anna comments. “We offer seminars, tips to help reduce plastics and a range that is fully reusable with plastic alternatives like sustainably sourced bamboo, silicone and organic fabrics. This is something I really believe in, and the Munch range truly reflects my advocacy for eco-conscious products for all ages and homes.”
Anna and her team are proud product stewardship advocates, taking responsibility for the products they make, sell, and buy so they’re not ending up in landfill. This includes looking at how each product is made, how it will be disposed and where the product range is made. All packaging has been carefully considered and recycled with most products sourced from ethical communities or made by the Munch home workforce of women. All suppliers abide to a 10-point questionnaire that relates to human rights and sustainable practices. Since 2015, Munch has a Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) Fabric Certification working with an Indian Fair Trade Organic Fabric company who also offer off-cuts to social initiatives in India.
“Right from the start we have worked with a sustainable, social and ethical premise. We are as much about social impact as we are environmental impact” Anna adds. “This means supporting women in jobs, developing school programs and other grass-roots activities to help make a more positive impact. I’m all about responsible ethics – Munch feeds minds’ and feeds the community.”
This July, and every day, you can make a difference to the world with Munch, a quality range of eco-products you’ll feel good about having in your home.
Priced from $5.95 RRP, Munch is proudly available in Australia at selected IGA supermarkets and independent health food stores.
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