StalkMarket offers disposable cups, plates, boxes and cutlery made from rapidly renewable resources such as sugar cane, corn sugars, plant sugars and starches and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood pulp.  All of our products are certified compostable, and we strongly encourage our customers to find ways to compost our products when they are disposed of.  Environmentally-speaking, composting is the best way to dispose of organic material like food waste, and yard trimmings. 

Can any disposable plate or cup be truly sustainable?  In most cases, a reusable container is more environmentally sustainable than a disposable item.  But sometimes life requires the convenience of a disposable container.  And until we find a better solution, using a disposable product made from a rapidly renewable resource – especially one that would otherwise be a waste product from another process – is better than the traditional petrochemical-based products.

We’re always looking for ways to be more efficient and resourceful in production. For example: 

• Our sugar cane products are made from the waste fibers from crushing the cane to get at the juice to make sugar.  It is a waste product of no food value.
• All of our products are bleached without the use of chlorine. We use hydrogen peroxide as our primary bleaching agent, which is environmentally preferable.
• Our proprietary technology allows us to use about 50% less Ingeo PLA lining material as compared to our competitors, which means more efficient use of resources and faster composting.       

Becoming More Sustainable with StalkMarket

The environment continues to be a topic of great interest to governments and consumers everywhere. Many state and city governments are already taking an active role in banning certain types of food packaging that are harmful to the environment and many more will follow.

Even if local government is not yet demanding the use of eco friendly disposable tableware and food packaging, your customers are. Retailers and grocers are seeing a much greater interest in environmentally friendly products and are responding accordingly. Consumers are also insisting on greener solutions from the food service industry.

According to a study conducted by Restaurants & Institutions magazine, nearly 83% of consumers surveyed said that environmentally friendly takeout packaging is either very important or somewhat important. More than 71% said that using environmentally friendly plates, to-go containers and utensils is also important.

In fact, this is so important to customers that nearly 50% of those surveyed are willing to pay between a 1% to 10% premium to offset the cost. And since StalkMarket products are already priced competitively with less environmentally friendly alternatives, you have a lot to gain and nothing to lose.

 Understanding Our Carbon Footprint

In 2009, we calculated, for the first time, one of our best-selling product’s carbon footprint — the amount of greenhouse gas emitted from the production, transportation and disposal of our StalkMarket bagasse products.  We completed the first Carbon Trust certified product carbon footprint of any disposable food service item. By calculating this footprint, we have established useful baselines against which we can measure the progress of our emissions reduction strategies.  We are working to complete a carbon footprint analysis for our Jaya and Planet + products.

Our goal is to understand the carbon footprint of our entire product line, and set an example for the rest of the industry. 

Keeping Our Footprint Small

Other ways we are continually striving to reduce our footprint on the planet include:

• Recycling everything we can in our Portland office, including cardboard, paper, ink, bottles and cans and electronic waste.
• Printing double-sided whenever possible to use less paper.
• Providing financial incentives to our employees for taking public transit to work.
• Saving energy by using energy-efficient lighting and a programmable thermostat.
• Making purchasing decisions that support other environmentally sustainable products and services. We willingly pay a reasonable premium for environmentally preferable products and services.
• Recycling and/or properly disposing of old office equipment, furniture and debris with Annie Haul, a local, woman-owned recycling and waste hauling company.  We donate all of our computers and monitors to Free Geek.

Supporting Our Community

Our first priority in giving back is to our local community. Since we live and work in Portland, we feel its important to lend our support to worthy locally-based organizations. Accordingly, we are supporting the Oregon Food Bank and the Community Cycling Center.

"Sustainability" also means sustaining our business and keeping our employees working with good jobs and benefits.  We all benefit as a society if local and regional businesses remain vibrant and retain the ability to offer good living wages and benefits, make a difference in our communities, and continually strive to make our homes, neighbors and business partners part of the process of a better environmental culture.