What is our philosophy regarding the environment?
Madura Tea’s reputation for producing pure tasting quality tea stems from a commitment to sustainability. Our forward-thinking approach to environmental management is fuelled by a desire to nurture the northern New South Wales farmland that sustains our tea plantation. Our policies and procedures support ideals of sustainability, offsetting our environmental footprint and giving back to the community. We strive to implement practices and procedures that take only what is needed from the environment. Water used to irrigate the plantation is drawn from three dams and clean underground springs. Annual tests ensure that water remains free of chemical residues and tea dust and other tea waste is collected and used as mulch on the plantation. We pick and pack on site to limit freight movements and have rationalised our warehousing and transport systems to further reduce our carbon footprint. Our 250,000 tea plant plantation (a carbon sink) and factory operation is powered by more than 400 solar panels providing us sustainable energy and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.
We have won Australian National Packaging Covenant awards for our sustainable approach to packaging and waste minimisation. Our current Environment Management Plan maps out how we will improve on environmental policies and practices over the next five years. The plan underpins the way we do business and demonstrates our diligent and strategic approach to environmental management. Future projects on the sustainability whiteboard include reviewing machine usage to coincide with maximum in-house solar generation and investigating a streamlined cleaning and blending system. We also want to be sure that our trading partners also employ sustainable and ethical processes. We are definitely committed to increasing our use of Rainforest Alliance certified products and investigating buying more carbon-neutral tea and herb products.