Sustainability & Community at Local Hand Made

Here are some of the ways we are waste and energy conscious in our cafes, catering business and kitchen:

• We work with our suppliers to find the most environmentally-friendly packaging options. Our salad packaging is made from 100% reclaimed cane sugar pulp. This waste product that would otherwise be discarded. Additionally, the lids are recyclable and we encourage our customers to compost their dishes after they’re finished. Our utensils are biodegradable and made with sustainable practices.
• Coffee grounds have garden applications after we’re done brewing. For this reason we offer our customers the chance to take home this nitrogen-rich fertilizer. Just ask your barista to set some grounds aside for you and we’ll pack them up.
• Our kitchen donates our leftover food storage containers for reuse at Reverse Garbage in Marrickville.
• Our used cooking oil is converted into industrial soap rather than being discarded.
• Where possible we source our ingredients locally and we limit our number of deliveries. Doing this not only supports Aussie farmers and farm communities, it also reduces our carbon footprint.
• We have a goal to be 90% paper free in our offices. We email invoices and statements and eschew printing wherever possible.
• In 2019 we explored further options for recycling in our cafes. This included pick-up services for our milk containers and putting recycling bins for customers into our locations at St Leonards, Chatswood. We hope to be able to expand recycling operations to all LHM Foods cafes in 2020.

Community

We believe that no one in Sydney should go hungry and that everyone deserves healthy food, no matter their circumstances. For this reason we are proud to support the work of St Vincent de Paul Society, Sydney Night Patrol service. Sydney Night Patrol visits various locations throughout the city where they provide fresh healthy food, a hot drink, warm blankets or referrals to other services and beautiful volunteers willing to have a friendly chat. Our contribution to this great cause is a monthly donation of 250 sandwiches.

We look forward to a long relationship with Vinnies and are proud to be a small part of the amazing work they do ensuring that all our neighbours have access to necessities, support and opportunity.

Local Hand Grown

Local Hand Grown is an LHM Foods sustainability initiative running in Spring. This program encourages people to reduce food waste by giving kitchen scraps a chance to keep producing and growing at home. From our information kit:

“Local Hand Grown is a sustainability initiative unique to LHM Foods. You can pick up LHG Garden Kits designed to help you get a jump on your garden. These kits are all made from what would otherwise be food waste produced by our kitchen.

Australians throw away 4,000,000 tonnes of food every year. That amount of food would fill a line of garbage trucks from here to New Zealand…three times. What’s more, food waste releases methane gas as it decomposes and is a significant contributor to climate change.

So we came up with Local Hand Grown to cut back on our own waste while helping others start vegetable and herb gardens at home. These cuttings are all taken from our kitchen and will regrow in water or soil. Just follow the instructions on the tag, be patient for a couple of weeks, eat and enjoy!

Don’t forget to grab a bucket of coffee grounds too, they’re great for compost  piles and for adding nutrients to soil. Both the plants and the grounds are on us. Happy gardening!”