Advancing Our Sustainability Practices

Last year, Mette is Baking worked alongside a group of international students as part of RMIT’s Virtual Industry Experience Program, providing hands-on experience and real-world impact.

The group embarked on a two-week virtual micro internship, collaborating with Mette is Baking to develop a research report enabling us to gain valuable insights into how to make our Perth based artisan bakery more sustainable.

“Participating in this invaluable program has made a real difference to how we do things at Mette is Baking so we continue to align our business practices with eco-friendly principles and create a positive impact on our environment”

“The team of students analysed where we are currently at with our sustainability practices, they completed an analysis of what our local and national competitors are doing and made recommendations on other initiatives we can implement to help us further improve our sustainability credentials.”

“All research gathered and advice given by the team of students was based on the United Nation’s seventeen sustainable development goals including responsible consumption and production, climate action and life on land.”

“Having meticulously researched sustainability strategies, the team explored innovative solutions and developed a comprehensive roadmap to help guide us towards a greener future”

“The students brought in-depth research and fresh ideas to the project. I really appreciated their attention to detail and willingness to clarify feedback.”

How we are making a difference

At Mette is Baking we challenge ourselves to reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle items from our bakery each day to help make a positive change for generations to come.

• Mette is Baking operates a bake to order business model - our Nordic artisan crackers are baked by our team of bakers each day. We reduce our waste, because we only bake enough crackers to fulfill our orders.
• Being located in the City of Melville, in Perth - we have access to the 3-bin FOGO waste system which enables us to separate our waste between food scraps, organic waste and items that can be recycled. Helping to reduce landfill, increase recycling rates and makes for cleaner compost.
• We have teamed up with local organisations, childcare centres and businesses to ensure our waste can either be reused or recycled. For example, hairnets used by the baking staff each day are donated to the Rare Fruit Club and other fruit growing enthusiasts to be used to protect ripening fruit from fruit flies. While bottle tops, cardboard tubes and other reusable items are repurposed by our local childcare centre who use them for craft projects.
• We have ensured our retail packaging can be recycled. The outer cardboard sleeve, which comes from sustainably managed forests and is processed using Environmental Management Systems.
• For our food service customers, we deliver our crackers in two-kilogram packs in resealable and reusable containers and have no packaging waste from this initiative.
• Our bakery has solar panels installed to power the bakery to reduce energy consumption. LED globes are used in all our lights in the bakery, plus the water heater is turned on only for the hours required.
• We have been able to reduce our water consumption by only using our dishwasher once at the end of each working day and our washing machine is used once at the end of the working week to launder the baker’s aprons and other items used by the bakery.
• With the use of planning software our drivers delivery routes are optimised to ensure they are spending less time on the road, using less fuel, less wear and tear to our vehicles which in turn reduces our pollution and carbon emissions.

“We are working towards also introducing recommendations from the RMIT Virtual Industry Experience Program to further our positive impact on the environment. The choices and actions we make today will have long term effects for future generations”