08 Jan Breaking free of waste
Winner of the FCA’s 2019 Franchisor Social Responsibility Award, Muffin Break, has made an ongoing commitment to sustainability by reducing the coffee cup waste stream.
“Over five years ago as a team, Muffin Break decided that landfill was not going to be our legacy and we went about finding a partner that would help us change the game in relation to sustainability,” said Natalie Brennan, General Manager of Muffin Break.
In August 2018, Muffin Break partnered with coffee cup recycling program, Simply Cups, to divert 11 million takeaway coffee cups from Australia’s landfill in an initiative that sees Muffin Break pay to have one cup recycled by Simply Cups for every takeaway coffee or hot drink sold by the franchise.
In addition, Muffin Break offers a 30-cent discount on coffee for customers every time they bring in a reusable cup for their hot beverage.
The franchise has also changed from black lids to white lids on their take-away cups to improve recycling outcomes and reduce the impact on Australia’s landfill, as well as removing single-use plastic bags, plastic straws and plastic cutlery and replacing these with more sustainable options across the network.
Muffin Break has also focused on educating kids on the topic of sustainability by running Little Grower workshops, where children are taught how to plant and care for a seedling which they get to take home at the end of the workshop.
“Our franchisees have been really behind the whole process of sustainability. They’re the ones who have driven it,” said Brennan.
“A big thank you to MYOB and FCA this Award but I hope that it might be one of the last awarded. Our hope is that sustainability is not special, it’s just business as usual.”
Extracted from article originally published in issue 4 of The Franchise Review 2019, the Official Journal of the Franchise Council of Australia.