Sustainability

Good food shouldn't cost the earth

As a family-run farm shop, we believe sustainability isn't a buzzword — it's a guiding principle. From low-mileage local sourcing to refills, reuse and cutting single-use plastic, we try to make every part of the business a little kinder to the planet.

And we don't just talk about it: in February 2026 we completed an independently assessed carbon footprint of the whole business, so we know exactly where we stand — and exactly where we can do better.

Our carbon footprint for the year

7.2 tonnes CO₂e

That's the entire carbon footprint of our business for 2025 — covering our deliveries, electricity, packaging, water and waste, and calculated using UK Government conversion factors. To put it in perspective, 7.2 tonnes is roughly the carbon an average UK household produces in a single year — only this is for our whole shop. We're proud of how low that is for a business, but we're determined to push it lower still.

Already in Action

What we're doing today

  • Encouraging the return and reuse of egg boxes, honey jars, punnets and glass milk bottles
  • Refill services for staples like salt and olive oil
  • Returning delivery boxes to suppliers and choosing products with little or no plastic packaging
  • Charging for single-use bags to encourage reusables
  • Unsold food goes to local farmers as animal feed — not to landfill
  • One delivery round per week on the most efficient route

The Road to Net Zero

Our plan — watch this space

Our carbon report gave us a clear roadmap. Here's what's coming:

Short Term

  • Switching to a genuinely green electricity tariff
  • Night blinds on our fridges to keep the cold where it belongs
  • Even smarter delivery routing
  • Offering reusable alternatives to plastic bags
  • Building relationships with local charities to help offset our carbon

Medium Term

  • New, far more efficient glass-fronted fridges
  • A zero-to-landfill waste service
  • Carbon-neutral couriers for our national hamper deliveries
  • An electric delivery vehicle — or cargo e-bikes for town deliveries

Long Term

  • To become Net Zero, right here in Tavistock

We'll update this page as we tick things off — so do check back.

Last updated: June 2026

Meet Molly

The driving force

Sustainability at Roots & Vines has a name, and it's Molly. Jason's daughter and very much part of the family business, Molly single-handedly completed our decarbonisation plan — measuring our footprint, finding our hotspots, and mapping the road ahead.

It's her passion that has brought us to where we are today, and she's not stopping here. Every improvement you see on this page has Molly's fingerprints on it — and there's plenty more to come.

Supporting Moor Trees — Woodland Creation
Proud to Support Moor Trees

Supporting Moor Trees — Woodland Creation

Roots and Vines are supporting Moor Trees by making a donation of 10p for every customer who purchases a carrier bag. This funding will be used by the charity to support its annual woodland creation programme, which aims to plant 30,000 trees each winter.

Total donated

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from carrier bag sales

Trees funded

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at £9.50 per tree

Months donating

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and counting

Carbon offset

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CO₂ absorbed per year

Carbon offset progress

Target: 23 trees = 575kg CO₂ offset per year

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0 trees Loading... 23 trees
We produce 575kg of CO₂ per year from carrier bags. A native broadleaf tree absorbs around 25kg of CO₂ per year, so we need 23 trees to fully offset our footprint. Trees funded so far: ....

Monthly donation log

Month Donation Trees funded Running total
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About Moor Trees

Moor Trees is an independent Devon-based charity founded in the year 2000, dedicated to restoring native broadleaved woodland across Dartmoor and the surrounding South Devon countryside. Dartmoor was once a richly forested landscape, with ancient woodland coating the valleys and lower slopes — flourishing with wildlife and connecting the moors to the coast. Over thousands of years, much of this has been lost.

At the heart of Moor Trees' work is a simple but powerful idea: grow trees from locally collected seed, and plant them where native woodland once stood. Each autumn, volunteers gather thousands of seeds — acorns, hazel, alder, birch, rowan and hawthorn — from local hedgerows and woodlands. These are nurtured in two community tree nurseries, where over 100,000 seedlings are growing at any one time, ready for a future in the woodlands of tomorrow.

Since the year 2000, Moor Trees has planted over 219,042 trees and helped create more than 195 woodlands and hedgerows across Dartmoor and South Devon. Over 285 volunteers take part every year. Volunteering days are every Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday at sites across Norsworthy and their nurseries on Dartmoor and Broadley. By donating the proceeds of our carrier bag sales to Moor Trees, we are proud to play a small part in this remarkable mission.

Donations go to Moor Trees (Registered Charity No. 1081142), restoring native woodland on Dartmoor and in South Devon. Each tree costs approximately £9.50 and absorbs around 25kg of CO₂ per year.

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