Co-founder of Ecoware, James Calver, spoke to Ponsonby News about their beginnings, launching their compostable food packaging brand in 2011.
However, words like degradable, biodegradable, compostable, recyclable, bio-plastic, bio-based are not every day, well-known and understood words.
James tells us, “Now, it’s the triple bottom line - environmental, social and commercial - so times are changing.”
Today, Ecoware has in excess of 2500 customers, including Fisher & Paykel, Farro and Sky City. In the past year, they have replaced over 500,000kg of oil-based packaging with plant-based packaging.
But Calver says it’s important to note that while there have been huge strides forward in New Zealand’s compostable waste industry, it is still very much in a transitional phase.
“The problem with New Zealand is it’s so cheap to dump in landfill compared to organics. We don’t have any levies, tax or implications to make people think, 'Where else could I send it?'” he says.
People are now more aware of what they are throwing away and that services like those of Ecoware are available.
Business partners James Calver and Alex Magaraggia have been friends since their days together at Milford Primary School. They have made a nonsense of the oft-quoted saying ‘going into business with friends is a recipe for disaster’.
These two young men are only just old enough, early thirties, to avoid the ‘millentials’ tag, but they work well together and have a common goal to spread their passion and desire to see sustainable business practice worldwide, with Ecoware leading the charge. In 2014 they gained carboNZero certification, New Zealand’s first packaging company to achieve this specific certification.
James and Alex feel the responsibility they shoulder, but are proud of their staff; they’ve all become friends, they trust people to do their jobs and allow them the flexibility they need.
One exciting contract Ecoware has is to supply compostable Ecoware to the Cafe at Middle Earth, Hobbitland. It now supplies the Shire’s Rest Cafe with 80,000 takeaway coffee cups a year.
Ecoware is much more than just a packaging company. It strives to lead the way when it comes to sustainability. Ecoware monitors and manages the entire company’s operation with a plan to constantly improve the company’s footprint. It offsets all the carbon emissions associated with its activities by investing in renewable energy and native forest rejuvenation projects both nationally
and internationally.
All oil-based products have been replaced by renewable resources such as plant-starch and bamboo fibre.
New Zealand’s coffee roasting businesses are among Ecoware’s early adopters - now supplying over 60 New Zealand coffee roasters with its plantmade EcoCups.
The environmental damage done by plastic is now well known. There will soon be more plastic in the sea than fish if change isn’t made and James Calver and his company, Ecoware, is making a huge difference.
Many people and organisations are trying to do the right thing by the environment, but as Calver says “We need to realise sustainablitiy is
a journey, not a destination.
“The bigger guys have been slower to move because they’re profit driven - airlines, stadiums, hospitals - but I think after being in the industry for a decade, 2018 has been the most exciting and promising in terms of momentum and direction as a country.”
Despite his protestations, no one builds a business like Ecoware without exceptional talent, drive and vision, and that is so obvious when talking to James Calver. He is a very impressive young man who has grabbed this industry by the scruff of the neck and is modelling it along modern, sustainable lines. A personable ‘anything is possible’ person. “If you think you can change the world, you can change the world,” he says.
James feels the tide is turning. People now ‘get it’. We clean up our act and save the planet now, or the human race will slide into oblivion.
Two far-seeing young entrepreneurs can’t save the planet on their own, but Calver and Magaraggia are giving it their best shot. By partnering with other like-minded individuals, losing life on our planet becomes a little less likely.
Ponsonby News is right behind you, Ecoware. You are an inspiration to everyone in our community, and we wish you well in the years ahead. (JOHN ELLIOTT)