most food delivery packaging ends up in landfill — here's what ours actually looks like

Cold chain packaging is one of those sustainability problems nobody talks about. Keeping fresh food at a safe temperature during shipping is genuinely hard and most companies solve it with materials that go straight to the trash.

I work at The Farmer's Dog and we've put real thought into this. Biodegradable cornstarch insulation foam, recyclable cardboard, and either ice packs or dry ice depending on the shipment. The food packs, insulation liner, and cold packs are all recyclable number 4 flexible plastics once rinsed and emptied. The only thing that goes in the trash is the packaging tape.

A few bonus uses worth knowing — the cardboard works great as a weed barrier in raised bed gardens, and the cornstarch insulation liner is actually compostable. The only thing that goes in the trash is the packaging tape.