Here at BOL, we believe business can be a force for good.
Being a responsible business has been part of our DNA since the very start of BOL and everyday is a new opportunity to do our bit for the planet and work on being the very best version of our brand and business.
No preaching or judgement here, BOL is all about tasty food that will make you feel great on every level and won’t cost the earth – planet or penny wise.
Here’s how we’ve done it…
Becoming 100% plant powered
Our first radical transformation was to drop meat and fish in 2017. Like many others on the plant based journey, our founder Paul was hit with his Cowspiracy epiphany. After seeing the documentary and reading books like The Food Revolution, he started to release what we eat is the single biggest environmental decision we face every day. He did not want BOL to be part of the problem but the solution. Although this move halved the size of our business overnight, it felt like the best decision we’ve ever made.
This was followed by the decision to drop dairy from our products in the summer of 2018.
Despite the old school assumption that milk is a necessary part of the diet and will make you big and strong, we have realised over the years that dairy was not needed in diets. By removing dairy from our products, we have been saving 7 million litres of water, 194 tonnes of CO2 emissions and 91 thousand square meters of farmland every year.
Find out more about why we ditched dairy.
Reduce, Re-use, Re-cycle
Thinking about sustainability in creative and innovative ways is in the BOL DNA. We have selected, designed and re-designed our packaging to be recyclable, microwaveable and dishwasher safe, free of BPA and more – all to avoid the pitfalls of single-use plastic and to provide an item that is fully up-cyclable as well as recyclable.
In our approach to plastic, we think about the three Rs: Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. We have reduced the amount of plastic we use by light weighting the packaging of some of our product range, switching our Salad Jars plastic lids to aluminum ones and have now replaced our forks with a wooden and biodegradable option, saving over 22 tonnes of plastic a year.
We encourage our customers to re-use our packaging through marketing initiatives around upcycling with our #dontwastecreate campaign.
Check out @faye_bridgewater beautiful creations using our Super Soups pots for her colours.
We are constantly on the look-out for sustainable and innovative alternatives such as bagasse, a material made from the offcuts of sugarcane that would otherwise go to waste, which we currently use for our Dinner Boxes, and we have developed our first 100% plastic free packaging with our Power Shakes.
Every decision around sustainability for a business is a balancing act that needs to account for multiple factors: shelf life, cost, food waste, health and safety, consumer satisfaction and financial viability to the business. Whilst many alternatives exist, they all have pros and cons, and we want to be sure that whatever our next major step is in substituting plastic we have fully explored it’s potential, ensuring that the transition is not just a way of appeasing public opinion but a solution that is truly viable and future proof.
Find out more about plastic and food safety in our BOL, why are you still in plasticblog article.
Social responsibility
Social responsibility has been at the core of the business since the very start, where we donated our first year’s profit to Action Against Hunger, which helped screen and assist 13,000 people affected by malnutrition in the Rajastan region of India.
Throughout the years, we have partnered with many charities and donated thousands of meals to soup kitchens and homeless shelters across the country.
And whilst Covid-19 had a huge impact on our business and sales, we continued our mission and managed to donate over 20,000 meals to the NHS to support them in their amazing work.
BOL Forest
And last but not least, we launched the BOL forest just over a year ago with the objective to offset all of Team BOL’s personal and professional carbon footprint each year. We are growing trees that will last over a century and we cannot wait to watch it flourish over time.
But remember after all, every little helps.
Eat plants, love life 🌱
