Environmental responsibility

We love our home planet. We want to look after it and live cohesively within it.

We believe we can be part of positive change by improving the way we conduct ourselves and our businesses on it. It is all of our responsibility to look after it. As far as we know, it’s the only one we’ve got.

At Love Tea we have a number of certifications that reflect our passion for environmental protection. These include our partnership with 1% for the Planet, our commitment to organic certification and Fair trade certification. We believe it is our responsibility to reduce our negative impact on the environment. There are a number of small operational choices we make each day that guide us towards having the very least amount of negative impact on the environment as possible.

.

Our Packaging

Box Packaging

All Love Tea box packaging is made from post-consumer recycled cardboard, to reduce the amount of plantation timber utilised to make the stock. This also helps recycle the already abundant amount of cardboard produced in the world today. We print on these boxes using vegetable based inks, to reduce the amount of harmful solvents used, which can often have unintended negative effects on the environment.

These boxes (and the clear cello pouch inside) will easily break down in your home compost in a few months.

Pyramid Tea Bags

Our pyramid tea bags are made from a biodegradable plant based material called Soilon which is not plastic. We have personally tested these tea bags in our own home compost, and witnessed them breakdown. It’s important to note, they will definitely take longer than other compost items to decompose. These Soilon bags have met all compostability standards in Japan, Europe and North America. However, the manufacturers recommend commercial composting as a quicker alternative to address this longer time of breakdown.

The Clear Pouch

The clear pouch that holds all tea products (loose leaf and tea bags) is made from a plant based cellophane material called NatureFlex. This is not a fossil fuel based polypropylene (as is often used with food packaging.) This too can be placed in your home compost and will successfully breakdown in a few months.

 

The Packing Tape

We choose to use a kraft paper packing tape over poly tape not only in production but also when sending out orders to our customers. This tape appears to biodegrade much quicker than poly tape and has less reliance on fossil fuel as its source.

Shipping Boxes

Our shipping boxes are made from post consumer recycled stock with limited to no input of virgin paper material required. This obviously helps reduce the amount of plantation timber utilised to make the stock and also helps recycle the already abundant amount of cardboard produced in the world today.

.

Our Operations

Recycled over new

When we need new furniture, computers for the office, or even machinery for the factory, we always look to purchase pre owned and second hand products before new. This isn’t always practical, but to date, we have purchased more pre-owned furniture, computers and machinery than we have brand new.

On our way

Carbon Neutral

Since the beginning, we have been donating a percentage of revenue to environmental organisations each year. However, we haven’t conducted a review of the carbon impact we have as a company on the environment. We are currently working with Greening Australia to review our carbon impact, reduce it where we can and offset our emissions until we are at the very least, a carbon neutral organisation.

B Corp

We have been wearing our heart on our sleeve for the past 7 years with certification across organic, fair trade and 1 % for the planet. Now as we embark on the next chapter of our journey, we are in the process of proudly adding B Corp to our growing list business for purpose credentials.