What Makes an Earth Friendly Snack?
Sustainability is more than a buzzword — but it’s also become the status quo when launching a brand. So how do you cut through the noise and know who’s doing it right?
The truth is, it’s tough. Sustainability looks different for every brand, especially for smaller ones just starting out. Being fully “sustainable” is often expensive and complex — for the brand and the consumer. That’s why our approach is rooted in progress over perfection: making small, intentional changes every day that collectively lead to a bigger impact.
We put together a short list of what we look for when it comes to better-for-the-planet products — things that we feel are thoughtful steps toward protecting Mother Earth.
Plastic-free Packaging
While we all dream of a world where everything comes in plastic-free, fully compostable packaging, the reality is: we’re not quite there yet. For many brands, packaging plays a crucial role in preserving shelf life — especially for smaller food companies trying to scale.
But as we look at growing trends, from the infinitely recyclable aluminum of brands like Local Weather and Liquid Death to easily reusable glass jars like Cravers uses, we’re excited for a future where the snacks of our past don’t get to haunt us–or the generations to come. In the meantime, we’ll be patient.
Regenerative Snacks & Ingredients
More and more brands like Ancestral Organics are embracing regenerative agricultural practices in their ingredient sourcing. When you see a ‘Regenerative Organic Certified’ it means that the ingredients were grown with the whole farm ecosystem in mind. So, that could include practices like crop rotation, cover crops, and animal grazing in the pasture.
By looking at the soil, farmers and everything in-between, the farm begins to give back to the land, and ensures a healthier local ecosystem for decades to come.
Upcycled
As a company or brand, food waste can come in all shapes and forms: unattractive produce, unsold product, leftover odds & ends post production, etc.
Some food waste is inevitable for most snack brands, however, now there are brands that turn that so-called ‘waste’ into delicious snacks. This could mean using flour from surplus green bananas to make crackers or transforming fruit pulp into craveable chews like Climate Candy. It’s truly a win-win for all.
Climate-Friendly Ingredients
While there’s no certification or label for ‘climate-friendly’ or ‘low-impact’ ingredients (yet), a little bit of research can be a big help. Earth-friendly ingredients can have lower impact by requiring less land (which reduces carbon emissions) or water, have shorter harvest cycles or even be grown and harvested from the wild environment.
Many brands that embrace these ingredients are proud to highlight them on the packaging but some recurring climate-friendly goodies are: seaweed, mussels, algae, cactus, and buckwheat.
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So while packaging is often the easiest way to see a brand’s commitment to the environment at work, we’re also celebrating what’s inside the packaging. Whether it’s ingredients that are regenerative or upcycled, solar-powered production, or even invasive species being put to good use — these are the kinds of thoughtful choices we look for. Because sustainability doesn’t live in just one part of the product — it’s about the bigger picture.
We’ve dropped just a few of our Earth-friendly products below, but before you rush to stock up, make sure you finish the snacks you have already because the worst kind of waste is snack waste.