PEOPLE & PLANET FIRST
At Locale, sustainability isn’t a marketing buzzword – it’s a fundamental part of who we are and how we choose to do business. We hold ourselves to a simple but impactful ethos: people and planet first.
We recognise that everything we do – every bag of beans we roast, to every cup brewed in your favourite café – depends on the health of the planet and the people who care for it. That’s why we’re committed to doing better business. Not for optics or clout, but just because it’s the right thing to do.
fairness across the coffee supply chain.
The journey of your cup of coffee begins long before it reaches our roastery. It starts on farms, often in remote parts of the world, grown by hardworking producers and their communities. We believe in paying fair and equitable prices for the coffees we source. Much like wine, not all coffee is created equal. We’re passionate about investing in top-quality, traceable, and sustainably sourced coffee – ensuring the farmers are well-supported – never exploited.
We seek out relationships with producers who share our values. Together, we’re helping to support a supply chain based on mutual respect, transparency, and long-term impact.
Farmers are the heart and soul of the coffee industry. A fair pricing structure ensures they can invest back into their farms, pay their workers a livable wage, and continue producing the exceptional coffee that specialty roasters and cafes rely on.
sustainability in every decision.
We approach every decision with people & planet in mind – from the farms we work with to the way we pack and ship your coffee. To us, sustainability isn’t at odds with profitability; it’s what makes our business viable for the long haul.
Here’s a quick recap of some of the ways we’re working to minimise our footprint:
SOLAR POWERED & CARBON NEUTRAL:
Our Melbourne roastery is powered by solar and we’re proud to be a certified carbon neutral business…we even have the fancy certificate to prove it! Locale is part of the Carbon Reduction Institute’s zero carbon economy. We reduce our emissions wherever possible, and offset the rest through carbon credits that fund renewable energy projects like wind and solar.
Since 2018, our coffees have been certified carbon neutral & in November of 2020 we received total carbon neutral certification of our business from top to bottom. Our coffee bags & tins carry the NoCo2 certification symbol.
BEYOND CARBON NEUTRAL:
We’ve gone a step further by donating $9,675.72 (and counting) to Carbon Positive Australia, funding the planting of 2,418 native trees on degraded lands across Australia. We continue to donate 5% of Eco Warrior sales to Carbon Positive each Spring.
PROTECTING WILDLIFE THROUGH COFFEE:
Our Eco Warrior blend goes beyond being organic and sustainably farmed – it has a direct impact at origin through biodiversity & habitat conservation, as well as community empowerment & development.
It helps to rescue & rehabilitate endangered Sumatran orangutans and fight deforestation through our long-term partnership with Orangutan Coffee Project and the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme in Indonesia, as well as the Wild Coffee Conservation Project in Ethiopia.
EVERYTHING AS A RESOURCE:
The chaff (the thin, papery outer layer of the coffee bean that falls off during roasting) and any used coffee grounds from our roastery & Melbourne lab don’t go to waste either – they’re distributed to home & community gardens, and the Melbourne Zoo through Reground.
SOFT PLASTICS RECYCLING:
We collect empty coffee bags from our cafe partners each week. They’re sent to the legends at Reground who make sure they’re given a second life after storing our beans! The bags are repurposed as building film or Plastoil – the conversion of plastic waste into pure, high-quality resource oil, that can be directly used in industry and community. So far, we’ve diverted an estimated 1,800 kg of soft plastic from landfill – that’s about 350+ shopping trolleys worth!
PACKAGING WITH PURPOSE:
Aside from our coffee bags which we recycle above, our online store packaging is made from 100% recycled materials – and can be recycled again. We are in the process of transitioning our retail packaging from tins to 250g bags that include 30% post-consumer recycled plastic to reduce their impact further.
an ongoing journey.
We’re proud of what we’ve achieved so far, but we know there’s much to be done. Sustainability is a constant journey – one we’re committed to walking every day.
We’ve long wanted to acheive B-Corp certification. As a relatively small team, spread across the country, we have found it challenging to dedicate the neccessary resources to such a huge endeavour. But it is absolutely still on the goals list!
We’ll continue to share our progress, refine our practices, and find new ways to give back – to the land, to the industry, and to the people who make what we do possible.
Thanks for being part of this journey with us.
WE THINK YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN…
why coffee prices matter.
SUPPORTING A SUSTAINABLE COFFEE FUTURE
Lately, you may have noticed coffee prices creeping up, and there’s a good reason for it. Let’s explore why your coffee is worth every cent.
behind the beans.
THE REAL COST OF COFFEE & WHAT GOES INTO YOUR CUP
A look into what goes into your cup and how we can contribute to a fairer, more sustainable coffee industry for everyone behind the beans.
