At Kalm Kitchen, we’ve always been committed to producing the best food on the planet, but more recently we’ve been taking steps to make our eco credentials just as impressive. We caught up with Kalm Kitchen’s very own ‘green champion’ Holly Spooner to find out how.

Q: Holly, why is being environmentally conscious so important to Kalm Kitchen?

A: I think it’s a given that we should all be taking responsibility for our environment at home and at work, and we realised that as a business there were some very effective ways we could go greener without sacrificing the quality of what we produce.

Q: So, how did you go about implementing greener ways of working?

A: The first – possibly biggest – initiative for us is that none of our food waste is ‘wasted’. All the by-products from our kitchen – scraps, peelings and leftovers are collected and turned into renewable resources such as electricity, heat and organic fertiliser. In addition, all excess cooking oil is also recycled into renewable energy. The result is that hardly anything from our kitchen goes to landfill.

Q: What other measures have you taken to make the kitchen greener?

A: We’re looking into ways of reducing our use of plastics and non-sustainable packaging as much as we possibly can. It can be a challenge as obviously we have hygiene and food safety standards to maintain too, but we are committed to finding alternatives, which are sustainable, fit for purpose and hard-wearing. Reducing our use of clingfilm, for instance, has been a big priority, and also replacing anything disposable with re-usable containers. It goes without saying, but also we’re obviously huge champions of sourcing the most local, freshest ingredients, which has its own positive impact on our carbon footprint.

Q: How do you make sure your events are as green as possible?

A: We’ve never been a company to use any kind of disposable tableware. We prefer beautifully sourced (often vintage) items from our stocks. Even if we’re catering a kids party, for example, we would always shy away from plastics – if anything, we would use wooden cutlery as a greener alternative. And of course, any glass gets recycled – we see a LOT of Champagne bottles being sent off to recycling!

Q: How about at the Kalm Kitchen Café?

A: Yes, being environmentally conscious is a huge priority at the café. For starters, everything is either handmade by Kalm Kitchen, or by carefully selected suppliers who we know share our same eco credentials. We’ve phased out plastic straws, and all our cups, food boxes and containers are bio-degradable or recyclable.

Q: And finally, being surrounded by the beautiful Surrey countryside at your headquarters must make you extra aware of protecting the planet. What kind of measures have you taken in the offices?

A: We’re all conscious of the basics – switching off lights, reducing our energy output with the electricals we use, and we also only use rechargeable batteries. We’ll never stop looking at ways we can go greener and make a difference to the legacy we leave behind.

Get in touch if you’d like to find out how we could cater for your special occasion. info@kalmkitchen.co.uk 01483 813360