Environmental Responsibility Policy

We are committed to the prevention and reduction of carbon emissions, waste and pollution. Our journey to environmental sustainability is one of honest analysis, transparency, effective change and ongoing commitment.

• We will comply with all relevant and current environmental legislation and industry codes of practice.
• We will take steps to prevent pollution, waste and harm during the sourcing of our products, our own operations, consumer waste and the transport and distribution of said goods.
• We will continuously set objectives and targets relating to our environmental impact that will be reviewed on a regular basis.

Our Environmental Responsibility Policy extends to our:

Coffee Suppliers

Our primary objective is to source and roast the highest quality and sustainably sourced coffee in the world. This includes only sourcing Grade-A speciality arabica beans and paying prices that reflect the quality of the coffee and the environmental output involved to harvest it.

We buy our green coffee through well-established suppliers with long-term relationships at origin, so we know where our coffee comes from. We consider environmental factors when sourcing new coffee and only work with suppliers that are transparent and dedicated to environmentally friendly practices.

We engage with our coffee suppliers to consider the environmental impact of sourcing our coffee beans, and choose suppliers that support producers in addressing their own environmental impacts and are committed to environmental and economic sustainability.

We assess the environmental performance of our key suppliers, expecting improvement in their environmental performance as well as our own, and strive to advance environmental sustainability by serving as a collaborator, convener and thought leader.

Employees

We encourage environmental awareness among our employees and provide environmental learning through total transparency surrounding Bear Market’s supply chain, coffee sourcing and journey to zero carbon emissions. We encourage the use of keep-cups for each employee.

We facilitate employees with reducing and removing the use of single-use plastic cutlery and compostable coffee cups, and offer opportunities for employees to collaborate on our journey to improve environmental performance and reduce waste.

Customers

We encourage environmental awareness among our customers through total transparency surrounding Bear Market’s supply chain, coffee sourcing and journey to zero carbon emissions.

We encourage the use of keep-cups through a 15c in-store incentive and facilitate customers with reducing the use of single-use plastic cutlery and compostable cups. Examples of what we’ve achieved so far:

• Since 2014 we have sourced compostable packaging and made all our single-use products 100% compostable.
• The adoption of reusable keep cups has resulted in a 15% uptake, majorly reducing waste.
• We do not stock any single-use plastic water bottles and are installing complimentary filtered still water stations in each store.
• We are about to launch a community-based reusable cup exchange programme.

Key areas of focus for our business include:

Energy and Emissions

We have pledged to become carbon neutral from “Green bean to Cup”, which will include our entire supply chain. We track carbon dioxide emissions across the entire supply chain — energy usage in coffee shops, the roastery, delivery services and the coffee supply chain — and implement a continual improvement programme to reduce emissions until our final target is achieved.

• We roast all of our coffee on a Loring Smart Roast machine — the most environmentally-friendly commercial roaster available. Loring roasters use 80% less energy and emit 80% less emissions than comparable standard roasters, and the recycling of hot air from the roaster drum eliminates the need for an afterburner.
• All coffee is delivered by our 100% electric van to each store.

Waste Management

We seek to minimise our consumption of natural resources through reusable products and operational conservation.

Compostable Packaging: The removal of single-use plastic takeaway cups and packaging was achieved in 2014. Reducing our compostable coffee cups further is an ongoing commitment through our 15c incentive.

Container and bag waste: By roasting our own beans and using reusable buckets, we have cut this waste down to zero.