Reducing Waste

We know a thing or two about waste here at Green Connect. After all, reducing waste is part of our three-pronged mission: ‘More Jobs, Less Waste, Fair Food’

Our Zero Waste team has been busy recently managing waste for the UCI event and the Social Enterprise World Forum in Brisbane. Not only did they sort through waste at these events to ensure as little ended up in landfill as possible, they also worked with event organisers to prevent waste from being generated in the first place.

We do this within Green Connect too, striving to reduce our waste wherever we can. You can see this effort in your veg boxes in the compostable paper bags we use to hold small and cut veggies to the waxed cardboard boxes that get reused as long as possible before being turned into sheet mulch for gardens both on and off our farm.

We’ve gone back and forth with printed inserts over the years – changing from A4 size to online only then to the A5 size we use now. From this week, we will be moving from weekly veg box inserts to fortnightly. If you order a fortnightly box, nothing for you will change. If you order a weekly box, you will start getting an insert in every second box.

The change will help us reduce the paper in our veg boxes and ensure no customers miss out on the stories we write for inserts about the people, produce and processes of the farm.

Thanks for your support,

Lindsay Burlton
Fair Food Coordinator

In your box on Tuesday 25 October:

In your box on Tuesday 18 October:

Note: We sometimes need to make changes to what we pack in your veg box based on the quantity or quality of produce that we can harvest and source. If you have any questions about what is in your box, don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

Feature Veg: Watercress & Water Celery (25 October), Beetroot (18 October)

 Watercress is an aquatic vegetable that dates to ancient times. This superfood chart-topper is packed with antioxidants and vitamins and boasts many health benefits. Raw watercress tastes fresh and peppery. It can be eaten raw in salads or on sandwiches or cooked in soups or stir fries. Try using it in place of rocket, kale, or spinach in most recipes.

Water celery (also known as water dropwort or water parsley) is an aquatic plant that grows well in the damp gullies between the swales we’ve built around the farm to passively catch water. It’s a bit like parsley but with a celery taste. Enjoy it raw in salads or as garnish in a huge range of dishes. The luscious stalks are also delicious chopped up in a stir-fry.

Beetroot: Did you know that beetroot was used medicinally for digestion and blood issues in the Middle Ages? Today we have the science to back the benefits of this red root. Beetroots have a sweet & earthy flavour and are delicious boiled, pickled, roasted, or raw. They can be added to a huge range of dishes, including bakes, pastas, and smoothies. The leaves are edible too! Add raw young leaves to salads and boil or steam mature leaves similarly to how you would cook spinach. For more information about ginger and links to a range of beetroot recipes, visit https://green-connect.com.au/produce/beetroot/.