The 14,000 plastic packages filling the city dump each season felt like a dirty little secret for Leah and Ron Bailey. They own Salt and Light Heritage Farm, a sustainable farm in Two Harbors, MN.
Leah has always been thoughtful about waste on the farm. She started calculating how much waste they were contributing to the landfill. Each large pure-fed and pasture raised animal they marketed equaled hundreds of plastic bags. Astonishingly it turned out to be 14,000 plastic packages a season. Significant non-recyclable waste! It hurt their lovely aspirations to protect the environment. It was a heavy burden. One they needed to throw off.
Leah got busy trying to solve this problem. It began with testing various products that act just like regular plastic packaging. Because these new products are made from vegetable cellulose the package doesn’t add anything to the landfill. They can even be put in the backyard compost pile to add to soil fertility. In 16 weeks the soil microbes turn the used package into compost.
Many products failed testing and Leah had trouble connecting with suppliers who would work with a small operation. With persistence Salt and Light Heritage Farm finally adopted a high quality backyard compostable packaging solution! It looks and acts just like plastic, provides excellent protection for the perishable products they produce and benefits the environment instead of polluting. By early 2021 their products will be 100% compostable.
You can find two of their brand new products and new packaging at the Whole Foods Coops in Duluth. The berry packs are filled with antioxidant rich berries grown pure on the farm. Salt and Light Heritage Farm also sells their pure-fed and pasture raised meat online. www.organic-mn.com
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