When Del Currie decided to give up single-use plastic he had one “naughty secret” – he couldn’t quit his love of crisps.
He says his environmentally-minded daughter was not pleased when she found out that he was cheating.
She suggested that if he was serious about making a difference then he should launch his own crisp company, one that doesn’t sell them in plastic packets.
“So I replied, ‘Alright then, I will,'” says Mr Currie, who previously worked in app development. “It wasn’t so much a choice to create packet-free crisps, there just wasn’t anyone doing anything good, so I decided to jump into it.”
True to his word, in March this year he launched Spudos, which now supplies crisps to more than 65 so-called “zero-waste shops” across the UK and Republic of Ireland. These are stores that aim to eliminate packaging, and instead encourage customers to turn up with their own containers, which they fill from dispensers., external
Purchasers of Spudos then flavour and season the crisps in the store, with one of the company’s “Spud Dust” shakers. These cylinder-shaped shakers are made of plastic, but are designed to be sent back to the firm’s base in East London for refilling.
For internet orders from customers both across the UK and overseas, Spudos packages its crisps and flavourings in packets made from a natural material called cellulose, which is derived from wood pulp. These decompose in about 45 days.
