Our Carbon Footprint

Whether it’s extinction rebellion, single use plastics or Greta Thunberg’s latest campaign, the burning issue that is Climate Change is giving Brexit a run for its money in the race for media attention.

As knowledge of the subject increases and the matter becomes more serious, so does the pressure on individuals and organisations to make positive changes to reduce their own carbon footprint, which can only be a good thing. Here at Make Your Own Drinks we’re no different; we’re nowhere near as efficient as we could be, but our carbon footprint now forms part of our decision-making process where it wouldn’t have even been a consideration a few years ago.

With all things there are quick-wins and much slower ones. For example, we promote the re-use of your wine, beer or cider bottles so you’re not wasting old ones, but a major change in our manufacturing process that might improve sustainability can take a lot longer to implement, plus there could be investment in machinery required and/or materials that depend on our supply chain too. Sustainability isn’t just about the environment either, it’s ensuring the future of the business to allow it to make positive, long term environmental changes too.

MYO recently changed a lot of things about the brand including our packaging. At first glance it might not look like the decisions we’ve made were driven by environmental factors, however there were a few conscious improvements we made that will reduce our carbon footprint. One was to remove the instructions leaflet and instead have basic instructions on the packaging, and full illustrated instructions online. We’ve also made video instructions which should make the process easier for a first-time user.

When we reformatted the MYO kit packaging we were left with a lot of stock of the old printed pouches which we didn’t want to waste but couldn’t keep them as they were as they had old, invalid information on them. Instead, we over-labelled them with plain labels, and used them in the new cartons. Although this meant buying more materials, it was the best solution to avoid disposing of the old pouches.

Once these pouches have all been used up, we will start using single plain pouches. Compared to the old pouches which had 2 plastic compartments on the inside, these single pouches use a lot less plastic and no ink on the outside. Additionally, by putting the pouch and the rest of the kit inside a carton which better protects the product, we have reduced the amount of damaged kits which have to be disposed of, thus reducing waste of returned items.

Make Your Own Drinks is part of a bigger company called Bevie. Bevie is a company that takes sustainability very seriously, having sustainability committees in both our UK and New Zealand offices. Since 2017, we have made a number of environmental commitments, including becoming ‘Zero Waste to Landfill’, reducing our plastic usage by 50% on site, and taking part in employee recycling initiatives such as Walkers Crisps recycling scheme.

So overall, we are fully aware that we need to do our bit as a brand and as a global company to reduce our carbon footprint and that the decisions we make will affect the environment in either a positive or negative way. We’re confident that in time it will start to become easier to make the right decisions, and that other organisations, the Government and individuals will move forward in the same direction.