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With sustainability being a key pillar of the values that Coastal Crunch represents, the packaging we use for our products has always been one of our biggest challenges. 


The business was born with the goal of being ‘plastic free’.  Our very first granola was packaged in biodegradable ‘Earth Bags’ that achieved this goal, but we had to stick labels to the bags which weren’t recyclable or compostable.  As we quickly found out, our sealing equipment and the design of the bag meant that there wasn’t a great seal on the finished product.  Our granola was going stale quickly, and we couldn’t be confident in the shelf life we were putting on the best before dates. Add to this the plastic labels we were putting on the bags and the whole thing just didn’t make sense.


After much internal deliberation, we decided to bite the bullet and move to a less environmentally sustainable packaging, but one that allowed us to create a more sustainable product. The new packaging was made from kraft paper with a PET plastic film.  This achieved an airtight and moisture proof barrier between the product and the environment, and meant our product was food safe and shelf stable. While we weren’t happy to have to use plastic packaging, we did make a promise to ourselves that we would make amends to the environment somehow, as we grew the business.


To this end, we are now super proud and pleased to announce that we are now taking steps to reduce the carbon emissions of our business activity by purchasing certified carbon credits.  For every 250kg of granola we sell, we are purchasing 1 carbon credit and supporting a project either internationally or here in Australia to reduce carbon emissions and build a more sustainable future.


For last quarter, we have supported ‘Improved Kitchen Regimes in Rwanda’. This is a Gold Standard carbon credit project (VER) that provides households with energy efficient cookstoves. Over 20,000 stoves are now in use in the Bugesera District of Rwanda, where local communities burn biomass for cooking, mainly in the form of unsustainably collected firewood. 

These cleaner stoves require substantially less fuel. Critically for the people, they result in a better quality of life and improved health. This is a CO2balance project, a British profit-for-purpose carbon management consultancy. CO2balance ensures the project addresses several UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). 


You can read more about this specific project here https://www.goldstandard.org/projects/cleaner-cook-stoves-rwanda, and you can go to this link to see Coastal Crunch on the register. 


Each quarter we will be choosing a different project to support in our effort to reduce our own carbon footprint.



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