As trends indicate consumer preferences for local, ethical and environmentally conscious products, Cape Byron Distillery continues to tick boxes as it becomes just the second Australian distillery to gain B Corp certification.
B Corp is the global movement of organisations, setting the benchmark for sustainable and ethical business practices. The certification has a criteria of over 350 benchmarks concerning operations, employee treatment, community and environmental impact.
Cape Byron’s Co-Founder, Eddie Brook, said he was delighted to gain the distinction as it highlights the team’s commitment to conducting the highest standard of production and corporate social responsibility.
“I am incredibly proud of our team in achieving B Corp certification,” Brook said.
“It is in our company DNA and at the very core of everything we do here, to support local communities, the environment and our people. We see business as a force for good.
“We go beyond industry norms, creating and implementing better solutions and hopefully working to teach and inspire others to do so to make the distilling industry a leader in sustainable practice.”
“We have invested in creating production processes that minimise our impact on the environment, such as our off-grid water system, worm farms to consume green waste on-site, bottle crushers for all glass waste and our composting systems whereby we repurpose our liquid whisky waste products into and then spread under our Davidson plum orchard.”
Alex McManus, Cape Byron Distillery Sustainability Manager, commented: “Whilst we are ecstatic to achieve this level of certification which solidifies our sustainability journey to date, we have an exciting road ahead.”
“For us, sustainability is about establishing your baseline and then looking at your business practices through a transparent lens to tackle the tough issues head-on and create innovative solutions,” McManus added.
And McManus is optimistic that Cape Byron can lead the way for the Australian distilling industry at large: “We hope that the work we are doing can lay the foundations for other distilleries in their sustainability journey.”
Cape Byron Distillery achieved B Corp Certification by exceeding B Corp Standards not only in reforestation efforts, but across five categories of the B Impact Assessment: Community, Customers, Environment, Workers andGovernance.
Factors attributed to the success of the certification include:
- a custom composting system using Black Soldier Flies that consume waste without producing gas and chemicals
- creating whisky-waste mulch that is reused on the Davidson Plum orchard
- creating an extensive waste monitoring and data collection hub.
Another milestone for the Distillery was a 30 per cent decrease in landfill waste over the period of January 2019 – December 2021, from an average 3.3kg per 100 bottles down 2.1kg.
