igourmet.com continually works with our suppliers from all over the world to promote awareness of the environment and global responsibility. This expands to both our food suppliers as well as packaging and shipping suppliers. Our food suppliers, committed to high quality products, understand that the best quality produce, meats, and oils come from humane, healthy environments that best mirror nature’s intended habitat. Below are just a few examples of being a green gourmet:
Slow Food Suppliers: igourmet.com works with “slow food” suppliers whose goals are:
- To form and sustain see banks to preserve heirloom varieties in cooperation with local food systems
- To organize small-scale processing (including facilities for slaughtering and short run products)
- Educating citizens about the drawbacks of commercial agribusiness and factory farms
- Developing various political programs to preserve family farms
- Lobby for the inclusion of organic farming concerns within agricultural policy
- Lobby again government funding of genetic engineering
- Lobby against the use of pesticides
- To preserve and promote local and traditional food products along with their lore and presentation
Humane Animal Husbandry:
igourmet.com offers a wide range of meats and seafood products that come from farms that humanely raise and care for their animals. From our Heritage Turkeys from Ayrshire Farm in Virginia, to our grass-fed Rastelli steaks, we work to only source from humane suppliers.
Organic Fair Trade Coffee:
Coffee has received particular notice lately, and we pair with several suppliers to bring a range of Fair-Trade, Direct-Trade, and organic coffees to please our customer’s discriminating palates. Buy Well, Intl, supplies us with coffee that is both Fair Trade Certified and organic, all the while operating with a policy of transparency and third-party certification. Electric City Roasting works directly with farms around the world to make sure the farms receive a living-wage for their work.
Sustainable Honey:
With the recent press on honey bees and colony collapse disorder, consumers have placed greater emphasis on seeking out organic honey. igourmet.com searches for the prime examples of these honeys, as well as offering single-varietal honeys that showcase the unique attributes of their origin. Our Royal Hawaiian Honeys are also certified to be carbon-free, along with being certified organic on both a state and federal level.
Sustainable Chocolate:
Our chocolate line, like cheese, offers both domestic and international varieties that source from sustainable plantations and use organic farming methods. These include Spain’s ChocoLate Organiko, London’s Green & Blacks, and Oregon’s Dagoba Chocolate. Dagoba particularly sets a good example, outlining a detailed mission statement on how they work to achieve full-circle sustainability, from the quality of the beans, to the ecology of the land they come from, to the equity of the farmers they trade with, to the community of both the farmers and the plant where the chocolate is processed.
In the past few years, igourmet.com has made significant changes in creating a greener workplace. When the decision to build a new warehouse and distribution center was being looked at there was little debate on trying to build eco friendly or green. Still in the design process, ownership has charged the design team with utilizing sustainable green building materials, equipment and systems that will reduce energy use, produce high quality indoor air quality and promote water conservation. A few of the design features include incorporating passive solar design or sunlight harvesting, water reducing fixtures and a super energy efficient building envelope. Below are just a few examples of being a green gourmet:
- Pallet wood for large shipments is given to a local landscaper who then shreds them to make mulch.
- Our shipping department has switched from Styrofoam peanuts to air-filled bags that create much less waste in each package.
- All igourmet.com shipping boxes are made with recycled paperboard.
- Our shipping model which ships most packages overnight saves “time in transit” which saves on fuel and packaging on our shipments.
- igourmet.com is investigating a new packaging material to replace our current Styrofoam coolers. This product is made of 100% recyclable material that contains low density polyethylene, aluminum and corrugated cardboard. The packaging is insulated with arctic foil which is environmentally friendly alternative to foam coolers. Our current supplier SCA is embarking on a national recycling program for Styrofoam chambers. Internally, we reuse any container that is returned in good condition and encourage reuse by our customers for their personal use.
- Shipping gel packs are reusable and have a long life for cooling needs.
- We have implemented an office recycling program, cutting down on waste and ensuring that the paper we use will get used again. We encourage immediate paper reuse and recycle all paper, plastic, glass, and cardboard.
- igourmet.com provides a commission to support programs such as those by Community Greenhouse Foundation and their mission to support and promote green building and a more sustainable education by working with organizations such as Greenfortlauderdale.com, GreenOrlando.com and GreenBrevard.com to get the message out to as many sources as possible.
REUSE:
One of the best ways to reduce waste is to find second or third uses for things. Our igourment.com boxes are already made of recycled paperboard; however, reusing them again keeps them out of the landfill! Storing office supplies and then sending them to the recycling center is our practice.
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