October 30, 2021
Why is our gun Deckhand, Ellen, all smiles?
Two years ago Austral’s Clayton Nelson, who oversees our Timor Reef fresh fish operation, was exploring alternatives to plastic liners which line the tubs our crew pack fish into.
This led him to Grounded Packaging, a company on a mission:
"80% of plastic ocean waste comes from 1000 river systems in developing countries. Grounded’s 'Buy One Save One' program supports collection and recycling depots in the Philippines and Indonesia, #1 and #5 respectively for the generation of plastic ocean waste. For every item we sell, we save the equivalent from reaching our oceans in the areas that need it the most."
Clayton and the team ran a trial with Grounded Packaging's liners, with a view to having them replace our completely plastic tub liners.
We're pleased to say that the trial was highly successful - not only are the new liners environmentally friendly, being biodegradable in ~180 days at 20 - 30°C, but they also had the unexpected benefit of improving the product quality of our fresh fish.
We’re pleased to say that our vessel, Eubaleana, now uses 100% bio-degradable & home compostable liners for all of its fish unloads and deliveries.
While we recognise that we've got a long way to go, progress in this space is encouraging and we are committed to finding other alternatives to plastic where we can.