All our postal packaging & shop display packaging is paper-based & therefore 100% recyclable… from the cardboard boxes to the tissue paper, even the strips of tape we use are fully recyclable. We routinely simplify multi-box orders into a single postal outer to reduce delivery waste & we recycle all of our cardboard usage.

Currently, our bars, hydration powders & nectars are packaged in a standard multipolymer material.

These packs can be recycled but not currently within the UK.

The material we currently use allows for many things: It maintains freshness & protects the products from atmospheric conditions without the need for artificial ingredients. It offers a water-proof barrier - meaning that sweaty jersey-pockets, wet ruck-sacks and frozen ice-caps are all places our products can go and survive perfectly.

We aim to use only sustainable ecologically friendly packaging for all our products & are currently testing a number of compostable, biodegradable & re-cyclable options, but these innovations take time to implement and must be tested in real-time for ageing & food-grade protection.

Why can't we just change them?

The main reason is the moisture barrier.
Every food-grade material offers a specific level of barrier protection (keeping the food inside safe and in perfect condition to be consumed). So far the new materials on offer provide a significantly poorer level of barrier protection, this is because they are designed to decompose, therefore the barrier to the 'outside world' is more permeable and thus makes it much easier for food to de-grade too quickly, so we (and all other food producers of any repute) need to test what happens in the real-world in real-time when our products are wrapped inside these new materials.

There are no new materials yet available for food-stuffs that are liquid-based.

We hope to bring you a truly viable solution soon so please bare with us whilst we fully investigate the best options and work with legislation, manufacturers and policy makers to accelerate the options and timings of these new materials.

On the market today you will find a handful of nutrition bars packaged in plant-based plastics or bio-plastics. These are plastics made from organic matter (not oil) & are labelled as either compostable or biodegradable.

On the surface these materials seem to be a great solution, but it is very clear that material technology is moving far faster than current waste infra-structure in the UK.

Composting requires specific conditions to allow these materials to break down. Sadly, only 1% of homes have a designated home compost & our current UK Waste system is not yet set up to handle compostable materials on mass. Attempts to send these materials to compost within food waste ends up with the wrappers being removed & burnt.

Putting them in with your plastic recycling isn’t an option either as biodegradable or compostable versions of plastic can’t be traditionally recycled/re-used precisely because of their ability to decompose.

When disposed of with general waste, compostable & biodegradable materials may take decades to decompose within landfill, so we ask… is compostable packaging really a viable Planet Friendly option to adopt right now? How can we make our wrappers eco-friendly whilst our food recycling centres catch up?

We are currently undertaking detailed tests of these new materials and hope to adopt a viable solution soon.

What about non-compostable recyclable packaging: paper, card, recyclable plastics, glass, metal? The government promises to improve our recycling service from 60% of regular home collections to 100% by 2023… all moving in the right direction, making Recycling probably the best available choice in ‘Planet Friendly’ packaging right now.

Whilst plastic based flexible pouches, foil polymer sachets/squeeze-packs & multipolymer bar wrappers undoubtably preserve & protect our products they are not recyclable so we look to the packaging industry to develop a viable, planet friendly alternative.

Metal & glass are great for home use but not ideal for fuelling on the go! We want to move away from single-use plastic packaging, be it recyclable or not.

There is an emerging paper based, 100% recyclable packaging option which can be treated to provide a moisture barrier but further research is needed into this new material as to shelf-life preservation - especially in moisture-rich products such as Veloforte which do not use artificial preservatives or stabilisers.

We are currently undertaking detailed tests of these new materials and hope to adopt a viable solution soon.

To really reduce your carbon footprint, re-usable/re-fillable packaging makes a great deal of sense. Any packaging that serves us more than once before recycling/disposal is kinder to our Planet’s resources, so we are currently working to develop multi-serve options.

Our approach supports the simple adage of: Reduce, Re-Use & Recycle

Our 5-step commitment is to:

1. Reduce packaging overall, everywhere we can

2. Develop re-usable/refillable options

3. Use Recyclable packaging wherever possible

4. Adopt Recyclable packaging options on existing products with TerraCycle

5. Evolve to eco-friendly packaging for all products over the next 3 years

Many brands have signed up to the UK Plastic Pact (WRAP), which works alongside the UK Government and NGOs. The pact states that by 2025 100% of plastic packaging is to be reusable, recyclable or compostable. We are aligned with this and expect to achieve it across all our products sooner than the deadline.