We don’t want plastic with our tomatoes

Reducing and eliminating single use plastic

Update: This article was published on Aug. 21, 2019. Our farm is currently laying fallow.

The Sorrento Centre doesn’t use a lot of single use plastic – we are energetic recyclers and composters. For many households and commercial kitchens, tomatoes arrive encased, wrapped or bagged in one way or another in plastic. Here at the Sorrento Centre, now that our farm is bursting with produce, the tomatoes are picked in our field and washed, then arrive at the kitchen minutes later fresh and ready for lunch or dinner. However, it is quite amazing how much plastic creeps onto our site – packaging for items coming into our kitchen, our maintenance department, housekeeping and also our office. Recently, we received a big beautiful new awning that we use when the Sorrento Centre is on the road at community events and festivals – and it was wrapped in metres of plastic.

As part of our commitment to environmental sustainability, we are re-doubling our efforts to cut down and eliminate single use plastic. The first step is that each of our departments will assess the plastic that comes onto our site. Then, we will develop a strategy to reduce and entirely end single use plastic. Packaging represents a ubiquitous and challenging issue. We’re going to look for good practices from others… any ideas are welcome. We know that part of the task ahead is to communicate with all of our suppliers and let them know that we don’t want stuff arriving on our campus shrouded in plastic that is clogging up our beautiful world. If you have suggestions or ideas, please send them to Michael Shapcott, Executive Director, at director@sorrentocentre.ca