ECO-FRIENDLY packaging specialist Biopac is supplying its innovative take home boxes to Harvey Nichols top rated OXO Tower restaurant in London.

The company from Pershore makes a "green" version of the traditional doggie bag, which allows customers to take home food leftovers as well as giving them a reminder of dining at OXO.

Kerri McGuinness, marketing and communications manager at Harvey Nichols said: “Recently awarded a three star rating by the Sustainable Restaurant Association , we are always trying to find innovative ways to further improve our sustainability practices. We put the project out to tender with three suppliers and found Biopac to be the most flexible with our bespoke design needs and responsive to our requests. It was a long term project, and the end result is certainly worth it.”

Mark Brigden, technical director at Biopac, added: “We'd like to congratulate OXO Tower restaurant for the sustainability rating, it's thoroughly deserved and we encourage other restaurants to do the same.”

The take home boxes are made from wood pulp that is produced from sustainable forests in Europe and coated with a compostable material to render them leak proof. Functional and sustainable, they can be fully composted when they've reached their end of life, so are very kind to the environment.

The SRA reports an average restaurant throws out 21 tonnes of food a year and that embarrassment is the main reason more diners don’t ask to take food home. About a third of that waste is swept directly from diners’ plates into the bin. With take home boxes readily available, the OXO Tower will now be encouraging customers to take their leftovers home, helping to reduce this figure.