Introducing The World’s First Reusable Shake Packaging

At Nutribuddy we are excited to launch the industry’s first ever shake which comes in 100% reusable packaging.

Nutribuddy Pure Shake comes in a glass jar. Once you have used up your product, we will arrange free collection of the jar. When it arrives back at our small factory we will clean it, sanitise it and refill it for the next customer.

In this article, we aim to answer all your questions about this exciting new scheme!

Why is Reusable Packaging So Important?

Waste is a huge problem.

It’s estimated that in 2018 the UK generated a whopping 222.2 million tonnes of waste. Of this, only 45% was recycled.

Not all waste ends up being recycled or even going into landfill. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is an area of ocean filled with waste. This patch covers an estimated surface area of 1.6 million square kilometers – that’s 3 times the size of France! 1.8 trillion plastic pieces are estimated to be floating in the patch.

The world produces over 380 million tonnes of new plastic every year and 42% of that is for product packaging.

Once a piece of plastic has been manufactured, it then takes an estimated 450 years to break down in landfill.

This level of production is simply not sustainable.

Not to mention the fact that huge quantities of energy and resources are used up in the production process and emissions are pumped out. More emissions are then given off as the packaging is shipped, as packaging is, more often than not, produced overseas, China being the largest plastic producer.

Although the situation may seem bleak, there is a very simple solution.

Reusable packaging!

Using the same item of packaging over and over reduces the production of new packaging and reduces waste.

What About Biodegradable & Compostable Packaging?

Since our launch ins 2016 we have been searching for ways to make our products as sustainable as possible. However, no packaging options have felt right.

Shakes often come in large plastic containers which pump out huge amount of emissions in their shipping due to the large amount of space they take up and they take up huge amounts of room in landfill.

Biodegradable packaging is available. But studies have found that these break down into microplastics which are arguably more problematic than regular plastics as these are harder to clean up. Most plastics in the ocean are microplastics.

Fully compostable packaging is also available. However, as of present, these are only suitable for home-composting and not everyone has access to this facility, meaning they are more likely to end up in landfill. When a compostable pouch enters landfill it gives of methane as it degrades, a gas harmful for the environment.

And so we have used foil pouches over the last 5 years as these take up minimal space in landfill and due to their small size, less emissions are used in shipping.

But we never felt like this was good enough.

As the climate crisis has become more prominent, we have put a lot of research into finding the best packaging for our products, one that will leave the smallest possible carbon footprint.

It has now become clear. Reusable packaging is the only way forward.

How Will Nutribuddy Switch to Reusable Packaging?

We have set ourselves the goal of eventually switching every single product in our range to reusable packaging by the end of 2022. Here is our plan of action.

We have just launched a brand new shake, Nutribuddy Pure Shake. Every Pure Shake will be in our brand new reusable packaging.

The existing products in our range will gradually be switched over to reusable packaging as our current stock levels deplete. We have products waiting to go which are already in the old packaging. We also have more packaging ready to use on new batches.

It doesn’t make sense to discard these products, as that would contribute to the waste problem. Therefore, the plan is to use these up and switch to reusable packaging when they are all gone.

Although the existing products will remain in their current packaging for some time, behind the scenes we are making huge steps.

We will not be purchasing any more single-use packaging for our shakes as of now! This means that we are already contributing to less plastic production.

If you are interested in purchasing our products in reusable packaging, we will make it really easy on our website to identify which products are currently in the reusable packaging by writing ‘(Reusable Packaging)’ beside their name.

How Will Nutribuddy’s Reusable Packaging Scheme Work?

When you purchase Nutribuddy Pure, it will come in reusable packaging. There is no additional cost for this reusable packaging.

When you receive your Pure order, keep the cardboard box and protective jar air wrap in a safe place as these will be needed to return the reusable packaging to us (and the air wrap will be reused too!).

You can then use up the contents of the jar or decant the contents into a jar of your own (you can purchase your own jar here).

Once the reusable jar is empty, place it back in the protective air wrap and into the box.

Once you have 5 empty jars, fill out this form and we will arrange a free home collection for the box of jars.

Once you have chosen your collection date and the collection has been added to our system, print off your returns labels and apply it to the box. Then pop the sealed box of jars on your doorstep on your collection date.

We will then credit 5 Nutribuddy points (equivalent of £5) to your account as a thank you for returning the jars.

Once we have received the jars back at our small factory, we will wash them, sanitise them and refill them with more product for the next customer.

We will also reuse the protective air wrap.

Why do I Need to wait Until I have 5 Jars to Send Back?

There will be some energy used up in collecting the reusable packaging from you and transporting them to our factory, therefore it is important that we make the collection box as full as possible.

If only 1 container was collected at a time, this would cause unnecessary extra journeys for the delivery van, using more petrol/diesel.

Why Did We Choose Glass For Reusable Packaging?

Long-term we actually plan on switching to sturdy reusable plastic containers which are manufactured in the UK.

These containers will be more robust than the jars and so can be used for a lot longer than glass can. They will also be a lot lighter and more compact meaning more can be shipped in one box (necessary when our entire range is in reusable packaging and so you have lots of tubs to send back!), saving on unnecessary extra collections (meaning less petrol/diesel emissions).

The reason we have launched with glass containers is because we already had glass containers in stock and we wanted to launch reusable packaging as quickly as possible, to do our bit for the planet.

We also understand that launching something new such as this can be challenging. Launching as soon as possible gives us more time to fine-tune our processes so we are completely streamlined when the new reusable tubs arrive at our factory.

I Have a Question About Reusable Packaging That Hasn’t Been Answered Here!

We welcome any further questions about our reusable packaging scheme. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our friendly support team who will be happy to help: support@nutribuddy.com

Our support team aim to respond within 24 hours Monday-Friday excluding bank holidays.