Sustainability and our chocolate

The chocolate we use comes from a business called Barry Callebaut. Barry Callebaut started the Cocoa Horizons Foundation. The Cocoa Horizons Foundation is independantly audited and has three main focuses.

1. Productivity to enable cocoa farmers to prosper
2. Community to protect children and human rights
3. Environment to preserve the planet

For more information on the Cocoa HorizonsFoundation please click here:

https://www.barry-callebaut.com/en-AU/manufacturers/cocoa-horizons-progress-report

Sustainability within our stores

Paper bags are a given aren’t they, from the chocolates that you choose from the cabinet to the items you take home the bags are paper.

Gift wrap, we use a paper gift wrap not a laminate or foil.

If you buy a hot chocolate from our stores, the cups are commercially compostable.

You would have seen there are a number of clear bags in our stores.  This has always been a tricky one.  Our customers like to see what is in an item. The clear bags in our stores are made from cellophane and are compostable at home or in a commercial facility.

Sustainability with online deliveries

We have already stopped using bubble wrap wherever possible and use more of newsprint paper instead.  From time to time we will still use a small amount of bubble wrap (for delicate figurines)

Of course the boxes we send out in have always been recyclable.

Sustainability in our kitchen

Wherever possible we use white cotton glovers that are washed and reused.

We use unbleached glassine which is recycled.

We have separate paper recycling bins which has resulted in 31,000 litres of paper recycling been taken to our local recycling facility.

There are some items in chocolate production that are a challenge to change without compromising food safety however we are searching for alternatives

Hair nets: these get reused as much as possible (by the same person) but do breakdown and need to be thrown out.

Piping bags: we are looking for compostable ones unfortunately they need to be able to be composted with residual chocolate in them.

Latex gloves: we are looking at compostable/biodegradable alternatives.

Sustainability and our packaging

We were thrilled on researching for this to find that the majority of our packaging is recyclable and comes from FSC certified sources.

This includes our ballotin and flat boxes, our assortment, tablet and treat bands. 
One box (our petite treats box) isn’t from an FSC certified paper but the supplier has assured us it is still from sustainable sources.

All of the glassine and glassine cups in our boxes are recyclable.

The boxes of our truffle slices are recyclable.

There are two items we are currently sourcing alternative options for. The gold wrap that goes around our chocolate bars and the plastic trays that are in our assortment boxes. We are looking for food safe alternatives that looks after our chocolates so they still look beautiful when you unwrap the bar or open the box.

If you have any other suggestions or know of any wonderful environmentally sustainable solutions, we would love to hear from you.  Please email info@devonportchocolates.co.nz.