P.S. This is a working master document that aims to provide transparency in our operations. Perhaps it may also provoke thoughts and discussion that will benefit all. Your inputs are welcome and appreciated.
SUSTAINABILITY
If this ain't the mother of all buzz words of our times, what is?!
Product quality and taste being supreme, to us sustainability is about balancing what's sustainable for the environment (we operate on) and the sustainability of the business (cost), while maintaining a high quality product/service. Because without the latter there is nothing to be sustainable about, is there...
So as a micro business, we try to reduce our environmental footprint through several different initiatives that also balances cost that our customers are willing to pay, which ensures we don't go out of business! As we grow we try and incorporate more sustainable practices.
Read on to understand what we are talking about here.
Coffee
Locally roasted and brewed coffee to make sure you get the freshest possible Indian coffee Down Under.
What's LOCAL? For us AU is far enough from everywhere else and our business was founded to serve this small island nation sustainably. We are mindful of being just that as shipping roasted across the world by using carbon neutral shipping is just a green washing gimmick. Planting a tree for every km travelled by air just doesn't make sense. Think about it. Trees don't grow as fast as we want ;)
Our spent grounds are up for grabs from local partners like Merri Food Hub for your garden or home compost!
Packaging
In coffee retail and especially in e-commerce, there is no way to completely avoid the use of disposable packaging. Our philosophy is to Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
Bags & Bottles
Our Kraft coffee bags are currently not recyclable. We have started using some fully recyclable EVOH bags but these are still only recyclable by specific organisations like RedCycle and certain others (we'll update this section very soon!) However RedCycle doesn't exist anymore and unless the customers (know and can) drop off these to soft plastic recycling centres, these will end up in landfill. Yep, even if you put them in your Yellow bins!
Currently the best in class environmentally, are cost prohibitive, have shorter shelf life and minimum order quantities are still 5000- 10,000 units! We are trialling some kerbside recyclable bags, but these also have short shelf life and are best suited for beans that will be used up in 3-4weeks (tops). Since most of our coffee is sold as grounds, this doesn't seem like a great option at the moment. To offer this as an option involves additional inventory space and cost - coming back to business sustainability!
Bottles we use for Decoction packaging are recyclable. We encourage BYO for all our local customers using stainless steel and glass bottles.
Labels
All our labels are printed on recycled paper that is FSC certified, steering away from more schmick looking albeit environmentally detrimental vinyl! Old vinyl stock is being slowly phased out.
p.s. We tend to reduce labels on packaging for returning customers to keep wastage minimal. The product is king and we are mindful of labels being primarily required only for conveying a message - first time customers who might need more information about the product etc.
Takeaway
We've switched to using plant pulp based takeaway cups at pop-ups. While these cups cost us (& the cup of coffee) a bit more, we incentivise BYO.
Other
We source wine boxes and packaging material and reuse these as packing boxes and fillers as much as possible.
Our wholesale partners in Melbourne are encouraged to get their orders in reusable coffee drums / bottles.
Mailer satchels we use are compostable. Print labels that are recyclable are being slowly phased in (exxy!)
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P.S. This is a working master document that aims to provide transparency in our operations. Perhaps it may also provoke thoughts and discussion that will benefit all. Your inputs are welcome and appreciated.
Follow our journey on social media where you can see all the updates as and when there are..