Our Vision for the Future

Thank you for reading, we wanted to tell you all about our reason for being, the thing that gets us out of bed in the morning, the problem we are trying to solve and where we are going. 

Plastic consumption needs to change

Look around the supermarket, almost everything is packaged in single-use plastic. It is so wasteful to discard all the food containers that you bought, but what choice do you have?


I won't try to worry you with statistics, just take a look at your bins and multiply this down your street, across your town. It is a very large amount! This all needs to be dealt with one way or another. We can't keep putting it in a hole in the ground and recycling containers uses a lot of resources. This is not sustainable.


Thought experiment

Imagine you live on a completely isolated desert island of 500 people but with all the options and resources available to a modern city.


Some of the people are dedicated to farming food. When the produce is ready to give to people, do you think they would offer it in single-use plastic bags? Of course not.


They would use something study and easy to clean or something they can compost. A system that will work for years to come.


In this example, they are choosing the best tool for the job, without thinking about money. 


Humans lived in the amazon for thousands of years without any loss in biodiversity. How did they do that? By not taking too much and by looking into the future consequences of their actions. Looking after themselves, their community and their environment.


In one version of the future, there is no landfill

I think reuse is what we should be aiming for, with recycling being the fallback for things that can't be reused. Imagine keeping your cupboards stocked up exactly the same but your bin is empty.


In an ideal version of the supermarket, all the items you need in your home would be supplied in a reusable container. Everything. 


What is stopping this from happening? Us. Consumers, manufacturers, government. It just seems very difficult. What do you do with difficult problems? Break them down into smaller chunks. 


We are going on a journey 

As a consumer, what can I do today that will move me an inch closer to that? 

  1. I can make my meal at home and take it with me. Save discarding a takeaway container or packaging from a supermarket sandwich
  2. I can choose to shop at a refill store and get some ingredients put straight into my containers or into paper bags.
  3. I can get my detergents refilled at the refill store.
  4. I can choose products with no packaging - shop for loose fruit and veg at the greengrocers, farmers market or supermarket.
  5. If using a fishmongers or butchers I can buy meat and fish using my own containers.

What will I be able to do tomorrow that moves things a little further on?

  1. I will order my Friday night takeaway in containers that are returned to the restaurant and reused.
  2. I will have my shopping delivered in reusable containers and my empty ones taken away.
  3. I will have my recycling taken away, washed and reused by someone else.

As a business, what can I do now?

  1. Stop buying or selling single-use materials that cannot be recycled or composted

In the future?

  1. Be responsible for dealing with the waste products I give to my customers.

As a member of the government, what can I do right now?

  1. Reward businesses give back to society and the environment
  2. Penalise businesses for the burden they place on the environment - Waste, CO2, wildlife habitat loss

In the future?

  1. Make businesses responsible for the whole lifecycle of the products they sell

Think big, Think small. 

Good habits repeated every day tend to gather momentum and sooner than expected will snowball into real change.

Mintie Lunchboxes aims to take us all on that journey, to a society that is more responsible and more efficient. We will help you to make these changes, in ways that work for you.


What are we doing?

We offer containers to help you with bringing your meal with you. Our next phase will be to help you to use the refill store more easily. We have some products in the pipeline to support this with more evolving over time. We will work with restaurants and takeaways to provide reusable containers and the systems that can support their use.

Let's look after ourselves, each other and the planet. 

If you want to talk about your ideas, please reply and we can discuss!



Healthy - Durable - Positive