Spoons aren’t just for one lunchtime, they’re for life
Here at itsu we’re anxiously mindful of the health and wellbeing of our customers, staff and fragile planet. We’re continuously looking to improve our sustainability and reduce our reliance on single use plastic.
Our most recent initiative ‘spoon for life’ is doing just that.
Why 36p and not a penny over?
Spoons for life are metal spoons being sold in all our shops. They will cost you just 36p. We’re selling them at the exact amount it costs us to produce them meaning we’re making no profit at all, this one is simply for our planet and our customers. We hope this will help encourage all our customers to use these instead of plastic spoons.
What else have we been doing to improve our sustainability over the last year?
Every month we’re making small but mighty updates across all of our shops to take better care of our planet. This has included removing all plastic bags and straws and replacing them with paper equivalents. We’ve also removed plastic knives across all stores saving 4 tonnes of plastic a year and updated our wrap packaging from plastic to paper saving an additional 6 tonnes of plastic a year.
A big thank you to all of you!
Our sushi box lids are recyclable. Many customers aren’t aware of this and it’s something we’re extremely proud of. Simply give it a rinse and you can feel that much better about your choice of lunch- or dinner, or snack!
You may have also noticed that we’ve started rolling out napkin holders in our stores. We found that customers were taking many more napkins than they needed to use. On our side, we’ve updated our napkins to ones made from 100% recycled fibres and with the help of our incredible customers. New napkin dispensers have been reminding customers to only take napkins they need which has reduced our napkin consumption usage by over a third. Unbelievable. Thank you!
That’s not all…
- We’re proud to announce our brand new reusable aluminium refill flask
- We’ve replaced 500,000 plastic straws a year with paper straws
- Removed all plastic from delivery
- We divert shop waste from landfill, converting it to refuse derived fuel
- Introduced newly designed water bottles, resulting in 5.6 tonnes less plastic packaging every year
- We have moved to at least 51% rPET bottles, resulting in over 15 tonnes less virgin plastic being produced every year
- We’re trialling recycling bins at front of house
- We’re also trialling Japanese bowls to reduce hot cup plastic packaging
Why aluminium?
Aluminium bottles have the highest recycling rate of any other packaging materials. They’re unbreakable, safe and shatter-proof, they chill quickly and offer a unique cooling effect when handled. Our aluminium flask provides a 100% barrier against light, being absolutely airtight whilst keeping oxygen out and carbonation in, allowing beverages to stay fresher for longer. It’s a no brainer.
Oh and for every aluminium refill bottle purchased, we’ll be donating to the Blue Marine Foundation.
Little by little we are making steps in the right direction and there’s much more in the pipeline, watch this space. We’re always open to ideas so please do get in touch at our contact us page with any thoughts.