Environmental Standards

We have been pioneers of natural, animal free and organically grown foods since 1972, because right from the beginning we have known what leading experts worldwide are now saying: the way to a sustainable and healthy future is through growing and eating foods that are kind to the planet.

Our policy of providing nutritious and tasty alternatives to animal foods encourages a much better global use of land resource and trade. A primary cause of environmental degradation is from growing and shipping crops used for meat production, as well as destroying natural habitats to graze animals. By providing foods for better dietary health, we are also contributing to the significant reduction in resources needed for health care.

Want to learn more? Read how 30 world-leading scientists have defined a healthy and sustainable diet.

Certifications

We are proud to be members and licensees of the Soil Association, the UK’s leading certifier who uphold standards that are more robust than EU organic regulations.

All our products are Vegan Society approved.

The Clearspring mantra: “Work and play to convert an acre of land back to organic each day”

Supply Chain

We work with over 40 suppliers from all over the world who have agreed to adhere to our core product criteria and values. Many are independently audited to high standards such as ISO14001 which encompass these. Moreover, by having a direct relationship with our suppliers and visiting them regularly, we know about their company ethos and operations well.

Clearspring’s Core Values

Clearspring’s Core Product Criteria

100% Vegan as defined by the UK Vegan Society – the manufacture of the product and its ingredients must not involve or have involved the use of any animal product, by-product or derivative. The potential cross-contamination with animal derived products (including meat, eggs, milk, fish, crustaceans, molluscs and their derivatives) is effectively controlled during production, storage and in the raw materials.
Certified organic, conforming to EU regulations and the UK Soil Association’s standards (with the exception of a selection of sea vegetables, products that are out of scope (sea salt and nigari) and traditional Japanese foods that are not available organic).
Authentic and traditional foods that respect sustainable Food Heritage
Free from ingredients or materials derived from GMOs (including processing aids and packaging).

Free from added refined sugars; specifically free from cane, beet and agave sugars.
No palm oil.
Free from refined salt (all organically certified products).
Free from chemical additives including flavour enhancers, anti-caking agents, and colourings.
With a focus on whole grain use in our recipes.
Free from ingredients and materials known to be damaging to the local environment (flora and fauna), e.g. soya beans from primary rainforest areas.
Grown and processed with respect to local communities and in compliance with international laws and conventions on human rights, working conditions and anti-corruption.

Product Packaging

At Clearspring we care about good packaging. It is vital for food safety and quality preservation throughout the shelf-life of all our products, so they reach you in their best condition and do not go to waste. Its environmental impact should be as low as possible too. This is why we take the time and dedicate resources to continuously reviewing our packaging.

The good news is that the primary packaging material of over 70% of our products is already recyclable and quite a few of our ranges are zero waste. This means that none of it has to go to landfill (subject to the availability of recycling facilities which varies in every local authority and country).

Organic Silken Tofu

Tofu is our top selling product and recyclable together with drink cartons which are collected in most local councils around the UK.)

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Over the last two years, we have relaunched two key product ranges in completely new sustainable packaging formats.

Organic Authentic Japanese Teas

Our Organic Authentic Japanese Teas now come in tea bags that are completely plastic free and home compostable. The sachets are recyclable in the paper waste stream and the cartons manufactured using FSC certified paperboard with vegetable inks.

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Organic Atlantic Sea Vegetables

Our Organic Atlantic Sea Vegetables are also zero waste as they are packed in home compostable inner bags and recyclable outer paperboard boxes.

View Range

Apart from these major revamps, we have found ways to reduce packaging by removing plastic bottle neck sleeves from our Organic Cold-Pressed Oils range and Organic Italian Vinegars. Even this small change is saving ½ tonne of plastic film from going to landfill per year (calculation based on sales 2019-2020 sales data).

While we are still looking for home compostable packaging to replace plastic packaging that meets all our criteria, we are switching to single polymer, PE-based packaging that is recyclable where carrier bags are collected in the UK.

The Japanese Sea Vegetables that were in hard to recycle plastic pouches are now recyclable in the UK and other markets.

We pay extra attention to our packaging design for new products, where possible avoiding the use of single use, non-recyclable plastic. We are proud to be launching the two new additions to our teas range, Matcha Sencha and Gyokuro, in reusable and recyclable tins.

We are also improving our labelling so that our customers have the information they need to dispose of the packaging responsibly.

As licensees of the Soil Association, we are aligning with their membership to the UK Plastics Pact, which includes the clear target to make all plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. It is a big challenge but the widespread concern about the environmental impact of plastic packaging is triggering demand and pressure on the packaging industry and governments on a global scale. We are keeping a close eye on developments so that we can investigate the suitability of the best potential solutions with our suppliers.

Meeting the most stringent food and environmental standards is central to the Clearspring philosophy to deliver exceptional food to our customers.

Green Office and On-Line Shop Policy

Clearspring constantly strives to minimise our impact on the environment in everything we do. From our journey into work and the materials we use to the energy we source.

Here are some of the things we are passionate about:

We recycle whenever possible at our offices, working with First Mile, a zero waste to landfill waste contractor for materials that are not collected by the estate services, e.g. kitchen waste.
Our online shop uses recycled packaging wherever possible and all our packaging is plastic-free as well as re-useable or recyclable. In fact, earlier this year we purchased our own carboard shredder so the bulk of the filling we use is recycled in-house from the cases in which we receive the goods from our warehouse.
We buy our energy through Good Energy. Our consumption of energy is kept to an absolute minimum, with individually air-conditioned rooms, sensors controlling lighting and instant hot water instead of using kettles.
We only use recycled paper and card for all our office administration.
We practise paperless invoicing saving lots of paper, envelopes and stamps.
We get organic fruit and vegetables delivered straight to our office for delicious and healthy lunches.
The majority of our staff make use of the easy public transport links to commute. We have bicycle racks and facilitate the charging of electric vehicles.