It takes resources like gasoline, time and packaging to make and deliver EVOL burritos. Sometimes we order a little more than we might need (and store it) to limit freight usage. We rideshare our products when possible to reduce natural resources consumed. It doesn’t make sense for us to be wasteful. So we also try to buy as close to the source as possible, and bundle when we can.
Okay, we know carbon offsets are confusing (and even seem a little fishy). Here’s the gist: Though we’re really good about turning the lights off and not standing in front of the freezer with the door open, we do pull electricity from our local power grid. So to offset what we do use, we buy one Wind-e Renewable Energy credit for every kilowatt hour of electricity we use. What does this mean to you? By buying these credits, we are helping to fund the installation of wind turbines in high-wind areas throughout the Midwest and West. Once in place, these spinning turbines will pump renewable energy back into our national power grid. So that means not making new energy, but instead investing in using existing energy. And we’ve got big dreams of doing more. EVOL fans willing, one day we’ll have our own wind farm where our pasture-raised cows, pigs and chickens roam free.
From label backs and food waste like cilantro stems, all compostable waste gets collected in biodegradable bags and handed off to local nonprofit Eco-Cycle. Sure, it’d be faster, easier and cheaper to toss it all in the trash, but what kind of sense does that make? Why would we send it to the landfill when, in fewer than sixty days, our food scraps can be transformed into nutrient-rich soil ready to replenish agricultural fields? Hey, Farmer, skip the chemical fertilizers…we’re saving our organic matter for you!
And not just the easy stuff like office paper and aluminum cans. Bring on the spent batteries, the bike tires that can’t be patched, the dot-matrix printer Phil used in high school. Sure, recycling these things is inconvenient, but we love a challenge. We will recycle the metal organic tomato drums to the scrap metal yard, and even the Converse sneaker we found down at the rope swing! We will look upstream (metaphorically) and work with our suppliers to ensure we’re able to recycle their packaging. We will not stop until we achieve zero waste, and the trash man comes and takes our lonely landfill container away — for good.
And we have fun doing it. Spring office addition? Five sweet cruiser bikes. These aren’t reproductions, either. We scored these 1960s originals at the Boulder Vintage Bicycle Swap. Now we’re pedaling our burrito-lovin’ selves all over town in upcycle style. It makes more sense sometimes to use product and resources (even for fun) that already exist. No sense in reinventing the wheels…
Are we perfect? No. Are we trying hard? Absolutely. Through making minor switches like using post-consumer recycled cardboard to ship our burritos and committing to sourcing sustainably raised proteins from farms like Niman Ranch, we are making a difference that has more than just our fellow burrito lovers talking.