Sustainability and our tea
Sustainability can be defined as ‘the ability to be maintained at a certain rate’ or ‘the avoidance of depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance’.
At Hope & Glory we try our best to observe the principal of sustainability in everything that we do. As individuals, we take recycling and waste management seriously and at home, almost 80-90% of our produce is recycled in some way or other. Because of that, when we set up Hope & Glory we wanted the same principle to hold true for our business and this has informed our selection of suppliers, tea making process and how we ship our tea. For example:
- Our packing partner in Sri Lanka is the only packing facility in the country to have a zero carbon footprint. They are accredited by the Soil Association, Control Union (EU Organic), Fairtrade and the Ethical Tea Partnership. They understand the need to be a socially and environmentally responsible company, especially to avoid compromising such a natural product as tea.
- We minimise our own carbon footprint by using sea freight wherever possible. Over 95% of our distribution is direct to customers whereby we can streamline delivery schedules, and utilize eco-friendly vehicles to undertake deliveries. This way, we reduce our carbon footprint further.
- We are excited to announce that we have new packaging arriving soon and the design of this has ensured that it will be at least 98% (in most cases 100%) recyclable and/or biodegradable.
Why is sustainability important to us?
We all have a massive role to play in protecting the environment in which we all live and maintaining the ecosystems. In the business sense, we want to create brand a brand that tea-lovers everywhere can believe in. Sustainability also underpins our business model. We want to ensure Hope & Glory is sustainable for the long term and that our brand of great, premium, specialty tea – organic, Fairtrade and ethical — can be enjoyed by many generations to come.
But the most important reason is our children. We have 3 young children and we want to do all we can to ensure we protect the world in which they will grow up.
What would we like businesses to get out of working with Hope & Glory?
Ultimately, we want businesses to understand that however big or small they are, this is a collective, global issue incumbent on all of us to do our part. We believe the sustainability agenda can be achieved if we all work together and our belief is that our collective impact can be greater than the sum of our individual efforts. We have to work and support each other to make the changes, to educate ourselves and our markets.
None of this is easy. The solutions are not there for every industry and the economics are not sustainable everywhere. We need to align ourselves in the first instance with issues where we can make quick but lasting wins. Those that need wider engagement and possibly lobbying and support from Government and wider national groups will follow. We may even find that they will look to us for solutions.
Hopefully, we can demonstrate to those involved in the debate that as far as the world of tea is concerned, Hope & Glory can offer some “hope” needed in terms of sustainability. We want to be seen as the sustainable tea brand for tea lovers everywhere and by partnering with us, our business partners and consumer customers will achieve their sustainability and wider business goals. We hope to be a significant part of the sustainability agenda for the wider tea market and become the go-to Sustainable Tea Partner.