Those of you who have seen us present our research findings will be aware of our evidence of the way the UK is experiencing a 'return to simpler values' through things like the explosion in Grow your Own vegetables; keeping chickens and the waiting lists for allotments in some UK cities.

We were therefore interested to hear about this initiative in Germany through our friends at Springwise who have found a new business who will prepare your veg plot for you. Meine Ernte will rent out a plot which is prepared and all the would be green consumer needs to do is tend to the plot and harvest their crops.

The company currently operate sites near six major cities and hope to double this during 2011. How long before we see a UK version .. or do you know of one already - if so let us know!

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We have a mission currently which is to understand how we can improve on recycling habits within the UK. Clearly we have come a long way with pressures on land fill doing more to drive the need to get local councils to encourage recycling but we still have a long way to go to catch up with some of our European neighbours where washing packaging and distributing between bins is now second nature to most.

Our own research highlighted two things:

1. make it simple for people to recycle and they will - neighbourhoods over a short space of time recycle more if they have street side collections provided;
2. consumers now are really trying to do the right thing and recycle in the right way but are often compromised by the difficulty in multi-material packaging having to be treated in different ways.

So always on the look out for bright ideas we showcase the 100% compostable coffee cup which originates in Australia. PLAnet cups are not just made using forest-friendly paper, they're also lined with biofilm instead of petroleum-based plastic. That biofilm is made from renewable plant material; in part as a result, the cups comply with the harmonised European standard EN 13432 and are 100 percent compostable in commercial facilities.

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Local food is a current issue for consumers. In our research, people told us that they strongly identified buying locally with the idea of being a ‘responsible consumer.’ They like to buy local food because they want to keep money in the local economy, because they think it has a lower carbon footprint or just because they believe it to be fresher because it hasn’t travelled as far. However, a recent column in The Observer suggests that in many cases, none of these beliefs may actually be true.

It identifies two main problems with ostensibly ‘local’ food. The first problem is with the definition of local itself; according to The Observer many local claims are in fact ‘red herrings.’ In other words, they’re classic greenwash. The other problem is with packaging and distribution systems, which means foods that genuinely are locally produced may still have travelled hundreds of miles before returning to their area of origin and appearing on a supermarket shelf. So much for fresher food with a lower carbon footprint.

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Tags:  local-food responsible supermarkets trust consumer