The previous owners of Zippys always focused on running the business as cleanly and greenly as possible and having been born in the early 90s, Jessica and George continue to see a desperate need for business’ to be as environmentally conscious and sustainable as much as practically possible. No one in the hospitality industry can be 100% perfect yet, but there are several key things we are already doing which are detailed below. We wont stop there though, We are always looking for new and innovative ways more to reduce our waste and power consumption further.
Compostable – Plastic Free Packaging
Situated on a beach means any plastic waste we produce can be particularly problematic to the abundance of local sealife and birds we have at Langs. We decided from the get go we wanted a a Zero tolerance plastic waste attitude, so naturally there was only one choice for us:
Back in 2013, they had a crazy idea; “what if we could make packaging from plants”. We are proud to minimise our plastic waste by using Innocent Packaging. All of their products we use are fully compostable creating a new circle of life for our straws, spoons and any container our products will come in – And just like us, they are 100% Kiwi owned. If you ever see one of our straws blown away on the beach.. Don’t Worry
That solar-olar-olar power
Most portable food/coffee/ice cream trucks rely on Diesel Generators for power. Not at Zippys. All the Power for our truck is provided the solar panels on the roof of Big Zippy as well as getting a little top up from the mains every night, charging our large bank of Batteries just like recharging an electric car…. Or your Phone. Our Battery capacity is enough to last up to 15 hours on one charge!
As we did mention, its not 100% perfect yet as our truck is still powered by a diesel engine, we openly acknowledge this but every little helps right?
Beach Cleans
We believe in picking up after ourselves.. After every chaotic Summer with Beach goes from near & far we know sometimes the beach needs a little TLC; So, just like the previousl owners started, we want to host our NEW Zippy’s Annual Beach Clean. Keeping our Beaches Clean, our Zippy’s Team stroll the Langs Beach and Ding Bay to find rubbish left by another. Bins, Gloves are all Supplied & Anyone who wants to come along and keep our beaches clean with us can grab themselves one of our Ice Creams or Hot Drink on us as Thanks! Follow our Social media to stay up to date of when we’ll be running these.
Cans and Water bottles.
Yes, you can only buy soft drinks from us in Cans. Did you know Aluminium is infinitely recyclable and Well over 35% of Aluminium in Circulation has been recycled already. Aluminium is the most cost-effective material to recycle, because of the huge energy savings – up to 95%. In addition, all the scraps left over from the Aluminium production process can be melted down and used again and again. … Recycling 1kg of Aluminium saves up to: 6kg of bauxite – Throw your can in one of our bins to make sure its recycled properly. Not only that, Coke or Sprite out of a can tastes Waaaaaaayy better than from a plastic bottle, try them side by side, you’ll never choose a bottle ever again!
Sadly our plastic free dream falls over with Water. God Damn it! We’ve searched long and hard but cant yet find Water from a can or carton in NZ at a reasonable cost price. To live the dream we’d have to be charging you $6.50- $7 for a 330ml can of water. We decided to draw the line at having to pay that much for one of earths most abundant resource. We buy Cans of Soft drink for a fraction of the price you can by cans of water? This seems crazy right? Eitherway, as you have asked for them, we do sell (recycled plastic) 600ml Bottles of water but we urge you to reuse or refill the bottle (even with us if you like) and dispose of it correctly. If you hear of any plastic free water alternative that is close to the absurdly low price of plastic bottles, please do let us know!