SUSTAINABILITY
SUSTAINABILITY
We want to drive a change in society by promoting a more plant-based, planet-friendly lifestyle. Our mission? To make it easy (and tasty) for people to switch to sustainable, healthier alternatives.
Healthy people. Healthy planet.
Let’s drink to that!
Our barley
Our barley is sourced from different farms in the UK and milled by Shipton Mill. Set in a beautiful Cotswold valley, the mill in Shipton Moyne Wood has been producing flour for almost a thousand years. Yep – that’s a very long time, and they’re still going today!
Plant-based power!
- A plant-based diet can play an important part in making our food system more sustainable. Plant-based products use less natural resources such as land, water and energy compared to animal-based products. They’re more efficient, effectively taking out the middleman… or cow.
- We care about our barley from the ground up, and have built relationships with suppliers who share our values. The barley we use is 100% organic with exceptional quality. From where it begins in organic UK farms, to how it’s carefully milled – the quality of the production process is important to us, from beginning to end.
- Our barley is produced by organic farming methods, which imposes very tight controls on using artificial chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and GM crops are a no no. Crop rotation is also encouraged, which keeps the soil nice and healthy and promotes natural methods of pest control. This in turn boosts biodiversity, so the land is full of life!
Let’s bring barley back!
- Barley has been used in food and drinks for over 10,000 years, so when we say “ancient grain”, we really mean it! It was grown by the Ancient Greeks, guzzled by The Gladiators and enjoyed by the Egyptians. But this ancient grain has slipped of the nutritional radar, so we’re here to bring barley back.
- One of the reasons barley has been celebrated across cultures for thousands of years is because it’s a widely adaptable crop. It can grow in diverse climates, altitudes and latitudes – it grows high up in the mountains, in the dry deserts and even in the arctic! Barley can grow at higher elevations (over 4500m!) than oat, wheat, and maize. Where most crops can’t survive, barley can. This little grain is made of strong stuff.
- Barley is still widely eaten in North Africa, Tibet, and India. In the highland parts of North Eastern Ethiopia, Barley is the number one food crop. It’s known as ‘gebs ye ehil nigus’, which means ‘king of crops’!
- Tibetan highland barley, the primary ingredient in Tibet’s staple food ‘tsampa’, has been repeatedly linked with healthy insulin sensitivity and a reduced risk of metabolic syndrome.
- In the developed world, barley was once seen as a nourishing food, but in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it evolved into animal feed and a malting and brewing grain. Now barley is back on people’s radar as a healthy alternative to refined grains.
- It’s time to bring barley back – to ensure that our future generations have something to eat – something delicious and nutritious. An ancient grain for the sustainable future. Long live barley.
Want to know even more about barley?
Then read our Bright Barley Sustainability Doc
Tetrapak Sustainability
Bright Barley uses Tetra Pak cartons that are made from mostly renewable materials. Renewable materials are natural resources that can be replenished over time sustainably and enable a move away from fossil fuel-based materials. On average, more than 70% of a Tetra Pak carton by weight is paperboard and one of their priorities is sourcing sustainable timber. Tetra Pak paperboard is a renewable material which is sourced from Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™)* and other controlled sources.
Tetra Pak carton packages can be recycled and transformed into a wide range of new products.
*The FSC licence code for Tetra Pak is FSC™ C014047
