Growing or purchasing local food is another opportunity to minimize waste. Bonus—you’ll be increasing island food security, supporting local jobs, and reducing the carbon footprint of your food as well!
Growing your own food provides the most opportunity to avoid packaging. When joining a CSA, look for farms or distributors that use minimal packaging. When buying from farmer’s market, you can avoid purchasing food that is over-packaged or plastic packaged.
Getting to know your local farmers and suppliers gives you a chance to build relationships and say—mahalo for providingʻāi pono (delcious food) to nourish us. It also gives you an opportunity let them know how much you appreciate minimal and plastic-free packaging!
Grow Your Own Food
Growing your own food is the best way to reduce packaging waste! Have a lanai that gets some sun or a small space in your yard? Start with growing herbs! Have some ʻāina to work with? Focus on growing the items that you commonly buy in plastic—#packaging avoided!
Check out the resources below for tips and tricks to start and maintain your at home garden.
Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole 2020 Hawaiian Moon Calendar
Online Gardening Communities in Hawaiʻi on Facebook & Reddit
UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources Hawaiʻi Gardening Basics
Sign Up For a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) On Oʻahu
There are so many awesome CSA options on our island. Often CSAs avoid packaging durable produce (think eggplants, fruit, cucumber, root veggies) in individual plastic bags. Mahalo farmers—this is so awesome! Some CSA, like Maʻo Farms, even provide reusable CSA boxes! When you see durable goods packaged in plastic, you can always let your farmers and suppliers know 1) how much you appreciate them, and 2) how stoked you’d be to see your cucumbers free of plastic!
Most CSAs and local farmers we know of still package their delicate greens (lettuce heads, baby greens, etc.) in plastic bags. We’ve learned they do this to deliver quality produce that is not wilted or bruised. One of our goals is to find a way we can support our farmers in keeping quality produce without the plastic bags. We appreciate our farm community for doing the best they can, and we are here to work together on finding a good solution for the ʻāina and for our communities alike!
Check out our list of CSAs below!
Maʻo Organic Farms
Their CSA box offers fresh, local, organic produce straight from their farm to the community. By joining their CSA program you're making a commitment to work with MA‘O to achieve our mission — to empower young people to become educated, rooted leaders and to make our island home more food secure. In the long run you’ll be “co-producing” with us to create a sustainable Hawai‘i.
Kahumana Organic Farm
When you become a member of Kahumana's Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, you get more than a weekly box of fresh local produce - you become part of our farm family. Your membership is an investment into their farm, your health and the local economy.
Unlike shopping at a supermarket, your CSA subscription is a direct reflection of what is fresh each week on our farm. Thanks to our climate, they can grow consistent produce year-round. While our vegetable offerings don't vary much throughout the seasons, the types of fruit we have available do.
Oʻahu Fresh
O'ahu Fresh is a subscription-based service dedicated to building a community-based food system. Their members have access to fresh produce from local farmers and specialty products from local artisans.
Oʻahu Fresh was started a decade ago by Matt Johnson and friends as a grassroots venture to deliver local produce sourced from a handful of small farms. Now, their network includes a variety of farms, dozens of producers and we deliver thousands of bags a month to homes and businesses across the island. Their team is on a mission to source, pack, and deliver products that support our local community and build community resiliency.
Farm Link Hawaii
Farm Link Hawai‘i connects local growers and buyers via its innovative online marketplace and supply-chain infrastructure. They make it easy for household and commercial buyers to discover and purchase local food for delivery or pickup. Their mission is to build a thriving, equitable food system in Hawai‘i by empowering local farmers and improving access to local foods.
Waihuena farm
They offer weekly basket every Monday, which includes their organically grown greens, roots, fruit, herbs, eggs, and other value-added goodies.
They also provide items from other co-op members (e.g. honey and portabello mushrooms) and backyard abundance from members like you. By joining their CSA program, youʻll have access to produce that is organically grown and harvested fresh for you the day of pick-up. When you pay ahead for a three-month season, we give you the choice items from our morning harvest, you're produce is reserved for you, and you receive discounts and speciality items like soups, sauces, dips, superfoods and wellness drinks.
808 Organics
808 Organics is like having your own personal shopper, for produce. They know eating healthy is hard, and are here to help. They source the best organic food from across the state, and build boxes for people on Oʻahu.
Their produce boxes come in a variety of sizes and options. You can also add organic, pasture-raised eggs to your order. They believe that eating locally grown, pesticide-free food is better – for us and the environment – and is essential for sustainability. To keep as green as we can, our boxes are donated by local businesses and they keep their plastic use to a minimum.
Tips for going Zero Waste At Farmers Markets
Bring Your Own Bags (large & Small)
Bring a few large totes or baskets to carry everything you bring and buy from the market. Smaller reusable produce bags are perfect to put medium & small items in like potatoes, peppers, greens, etc.! Don’t have any? Check out ‘Āina Lifeʻs collection of reusable produce bags.
Reusable Food Wraps
Ever buy bread or cheese from the market? Try wrapping them in reusable wax food wraps! You cut out the wasteful packing while keeping your items fresh long after leaving the market. Food wraps can come in a variety of sizes and can be washed after use. You can find food wraps made in Hawaiʻi at R.Planetʻs online store.
Tupperware
Tupperware is a great item to bring to the market! Use it to store delicate items like berries. Dump them directly from their basket into your container and they stay protected. Tupperware also comes in handy if your looking to grab lunch at the market- be sure to bring your reusable silverware!
Bring packages back
Find yourself buying eggs, kombucha in glass containers, or plants in plastic pots? Some vendors will let you return the packaging/ container so it can be reused! Each vendor has different policies, so be sure to check with your farmer to see what their practice is!
