Scotland the Brand

Scottish berry supplier Angus Soft Fruits to eliminate over 150 tonnes of single use plastic a year

Scottish berry supplier, Angus Soft Fruits, will eliminate over 150 tonnes of single use plastic over the next 12 months as the company switches to 100% recycled material in its punnets of strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries.

Angus Soft Fruits is working with its long-term supplier, Waddington Europe, which has successfully developed a punnet that is both fully recyclable and made from 100% recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET).

PET is considered a highly recyclable plastic, however the food industry has found it hard to collect clean, high quality plastics that can re-enter the cycle as food-grade containers.

Angus Soft Fruits supplies most of the leading supermarkets in the UK and last year, produced enough deliciously sweet berries to fll over 42 million plastic punnets.

The company is also working closely with Waddington Europe to achieve a 5-10% gauge reduction across all Waddington Europe punnets.

Newly appointed Sustainability Coordinator at Angus Soft Fruits, Catherine Russell commented: “We have ambitious sustainability plans here at Angus Soft Fruits across packaging, carbon emissions, biodiversity and food waste, and we are pleased to announce that almost all the berries we supply will now be packaged in 100% rPET punnets.

“Previously our punnets were made from 80% recycled materials as it has always been a challenge for the food industry to fnd suffcient volumes of clean, high-quality plastics that can be recycled and enter the market as food grade containers. We’re pleased that our longterm suppliers, Waddington Europe, have achieved this and we look forward to working closely with them to continue to promote circularity in soft fruit packaging. We are also looking to increase the monitoring of biodiversity, food waste and carbon emissions on our farms as well as signifcantly reduce food waste. Ultimately, we want to be net zero throughout our supply chain, from grower to customer, by 2040 and we want to share the best practices that we develop with our overseas growers. Moving our punnets sold in the UK to 100% rPET is a step in the right direction to achieving these goals.”

Scotland

The Brand ‘Food For Life’ Served in Scotland’s Schools

By Ruth Watson

A quiet revolution is happening in the way local authorities source local food, and it’s something more of us should be talking about. The ‘Food For Life Served Here’ award is a Scottish Government programme delivered by Soil Association Scotland. It develops contacts between local farms and councils with an emphasis on putting our world-class fresh food and drink on school dinner tables. The award is an accreditation scheme with schools pledging to feed pupils freshly-cooked food, from high quality, unprocessed ingredients: councils with 15% of produce coming from organic sources get a ‘Gold’ ranking. The pledge to feed our children the best Scotland has to offer is a fundamental focus of the Scottish Government’s ‘Good Food Nation’ philosophy, and it’s good news for our farmers. Mossgiel Organic Farm recently announced they have been awarded the contract to serve their organic milk – delivered in glass bottles - to all the schools in East Ayrshire. Shetland Islands Council provides a menu which is 96% freshly prepared, while West Lothian Council ensures 88% of all the meat they serve in primary schools comes from Scottish farmers. Meanwhile, Scotland’s first social enterprise supermarket, Locavore, with funding from the Scottish Government, is expanding their partnerships with local farmers to put lunches made from organic, zero waste food on school dinner tables across East Ayrshire.

So how can farmers get involved in this good food revolution? Sarah Duley, Head of Food at Soil Association Scotland, explains.

“We work to facilitate relationships and develop connections,” she says. “We help to join the dots between farm and school fork. There is a general recognition among the public about the importance of supporting Scotland’s food and drink producers. The Covid pandemic has strengthened relationships with local suppliers, really showing the value of short chain food supplies.”

Building local markets, developing agro-ecology, and cutting food miles not only is good for our communities and the environment, it’s good for local business.

Ruth Watson is the founder of the Keep Scotland the Brand campaign.