Our aim at muun chi is to tread as lightly as possible on the beautiful Earth that sustains us.  A core objective is to minimize waste, both food waste and packaging waste.

 

Food waste is a huge problem.  The nonprofit ReFED estimates that 25 percent of all food produced in the U.S. is sent to landfills, incinerated, or flushed down the drain.  We think there is great potential for upcycling to be part of the solution.  To minimize muun chi’s food waste, we upcycle as much as possible.  When our kvass fermentations are finished, we harvest the beets to make no-grain crackers and our version of kimchi; the fermented ginger and turmeric become ingredients in our Fermented Roots; and the fermented orange and lemon add citrus flavor to our Serenity Protein Fiber Bites.  After making Almond Mylk, we dehydrate the almond pulp and add it to our no-grain granola and muesli as the main fiber ingredient.  We love the creative challenge of converting “waste” from one production into ingredients for another.  Why would we throw away wonderful plant fiber that feeds the gut bacteria that support our health.

 

We minimize packaging waste by packaging muun chi foods exclusively in returnable, reusable glass bottles and jars.  We don’t like single-use packaging, and we don’t like plastic.  In 2025, our fantastic customers returned over 28,000 used muun chi containers.  We count returns every day before sanitizing them.  The partnership we have with our customers to minimize packaging that enters the municipal waste stream is something that we value dearly.

 

Interest in upcycling and reusable packaging is growing.  muun chi is an enthusiastic participant in that movement.