Impact Report 2018: Eliminate Waste

Who doesn’t love Alter Eco truffles? Not only are they delicious, with 6 different flavors, but they are also made of clean, minimal and fair trade ingredients! It just made sense for us that such a unique treat should have its own unique wrapper. This is why we have engineered the first ever compostable truffle wrapper. Made of birch and eucalyptus, these colorful wrappers were developed in 2014 and have become an essential part of the way we view packaging. It brought us one mighty step closer to our commitment to have 100% recyclable or compostable packaging by 2020.

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[caption="Our truffle wrappers are unique", image="left"]

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In 2018, 12.5 million Alter Eco truffles were consumed, this means we diverted 12.5 million wrappers from landfill! And that is not all, since 2012 our bars are also FSC mix certified. This is important because even though cardboard is a recyclable material, we were concerned about the resources consumed in its production. The FSC certification ensures that the paper the cardboard is made from is sourced sustainably and ethically. Our next step is to transition our truffle bags to FSC certified gables, set to hit shelf by summer 2019. These gables will also be produced using wind energy. Each phase brings us one step closer to our zero waste goal. 

 

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[caption="Recycling at Recology", image="right"]

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Being based in San Francisco, we are lucky to work with great partners such as Recology, an employee-owned waste management company that has pledged to work towards a “Zero Waste World”. All our team members are trained by Recology to fully understand how our waste should be properly disposed of. While we're proud that San Francisco offers curbside pickups for commercial composting, we hope to see more cities expand their recycling and composting facilities in the coming years.