the very core of who we are and what we do at applewood has and always will be to honour the uniqueness and fragility of our land; to craft drinks from the land we belong to in the most sustainable and non-impactful way possible.
we acknowledge that our production will always have an impact and our industry has a lot to be accountable for, which is why sustainability has always been a key part of our mission. the way we all do things and the choices we take have an impact on each other and on future generations and we are continually seeking ways in which we can improve.
our greatest achievement to date has been becoming B Corporation certified in august 2019 - dedicated to being held to the highest verified standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
march is B Corp Month and we wanted to put the spotlight on three initiatives that we have introduced to continue to be a better business under three key areas; reuse, recycle and redistribute.
we were already using recycled paper (ranpack) as a filler in boxes for our online orders, we wanted to be able to do better. the next step was to work out how we could eliminate the need to purchase the recycled paper externally. our solution? the Mastershred.
the Mastershred machine not only eliminates the external sourcing of our filler, but it also presented us with the opportunity to reuse our own boxes, turning them from waste to packaging materials. this machine perforates our boxes to create the perfect padding for our online orders.
Bagasse is a bi-product of sugar cane left after the juice is extracted. However, it is not just waste - it is a 100% compostable and recycled material - and can be repurposed into paper products including labels.
the labels made from Bagasse are a wet strength paper and are specifically designed for wine and spirits applications exposed to ice bucket and refrigeration. we have successfully trialled Bagasse labels on a product from our sister winery, Unico Zelo, and will be transitioning all of our labels to this stock moving forward.
as part of an ongoing effort to Be Better, 1% of all the sales of our coral gin are donated to a great barrier reef restoration charity. in the past 12 months we have donated $2,796 from the sales of coral.
as a B Corp, we verify and update our score every three years, measuring our performance and improvement in five categories: governance, workers, customers, community, and the environment. the strict assessment makes sure we meet the highest standards of transparency and legal accountability every time.
we have always been honest and open about where we aren't meeting our commitments to the environment, and where we will be focussing our efforts in the future. this isn't just about us, however. we are open to any and all suggestions from you all. 
