Packaging
When you open up your package from Ekoto, you will see a lot of brownish colours. Not because we love the colour of dirt and shit, though we think it looks a bit more authentic ;). It is because most of our packaging is made from unbleached Kraft paper. The box, refill food packaging and filing material are all made of this Kraft paper.
Paper packaging
To bleach paper, many chemicals are needed, which we find utterly unnecessary. Kraft paper is not bleached and is therefore still its natural brown colour.
Of course trees are being used in the process, but as paper and carton is one of the best recycled materials in Europe (88% - Netherlands, 71.6% - Europe), only a limited amount of new wood fibers have to be added to the creation of new paper.
Our German supplier, Greenbox, only supplies the sustainable option of every packaging type. It is one of the very few climate neutral packaging companies out there. Though their products have a reduced climate impact, they still have net carbon emissions. Greenbox offsets the surplus of carbon by reforestation, sustainable forest management and by ensuring financial incentives for the protection of forestland in Tamil Nadu, India. Herewith it ensures carbon neutrality from the cultivation of the raw resources till the delivery of the packaging at Ekoto's warehouse.
Glass packaging
To ensure a long shelf life of our products, we always recommend storing the products in sealable containers. At Ekoto we offer storage jars made of glass, which is a sustainable option when reused over and over again and transport of this heavy product is limited.
If you are looking to buy swing-top jars anyways to store our products, you may as well buy our products straight in the jar itself. This combines two shipments into one and saves packaging material. To make the purchase of a filled jar more attractive than the purchase of an empty one, we discount the full jars to the same price as you would buy it at the big blue Swedish box.
We did think of putting text and our logo on the jars, but after all, we like the idea of keeping it modular, so that the jar can fulfill other tasks as well.
The decision to use glass over plastic or steel has multiple aspects to it. Of course the aesthetics of glass is great. These jars do not have to be stored behind closed doors compared to plastic packages cramped with marketing texts. As the glass allows you to see the product, a label is not really needed anymore, and your kitchen will not be overflowing and seeking your attention. Though, we will still make sure you receive a label.
Many countries around the globe have separate glass recycling programs. As glass can be recycled infinitely and as it saves energy and materials, producers are tempted to make the extra effort to recycle glass. Ekoto's swing-top jars always contain a minimum of 65% recycled glass.
But after all, the glass jars can be used over and over again. And to increase the lifespan of our swing-top jars, we advise to take the steel parts off, before putting the jars in the dish washer and to wash the steel and rubber by hand without using any soap.
What packaging do you think we should add to our assortment?
Do you have packaging design ideas and would you like to work on it with us, always feel free to reach out to us and who knows what we can achieve together! :)
Or if you have ideas, complaints or recommendations in general, please talk to us! :)
Hoi Agnes,
Ondanks dat de haver van nature glutenvrij is, kan het zijn dat er sporen van gluten in terecht komen gedurende het oogst en/of verwerkingsprocess. We kunnen dus helaas geen glutenvrij garantie geven.
Is de havermout glutenvrij?
Groet,
Agnes