We don’t tend to blow our own horn too often here at Peppermint, but this news we’re pretty keen to shout from a mountaintop!!! Drum roll please… we are now the proud recipients of the inaugural Mumbrella Award for Sustainable Practices!

The Mumbrella Awards have been around since 2010, celebrating the best and brightest across the marketing, advertising, media, production, PR and communications industries. They are, to be coy, a pretty prestigious signpost in the Australian media landscape, so receiving this huge social-distanced pat on the back is a massive achievement. Yay us!

Of course awards are not everything. We do what we do because we are driven to make change in the world. However, we have to admit we are pretty chuffed to be recognised for our efforts, especially when we were up against some huge global advertising agencies and campaigns in this category.

In its first year, the Sustainable Practices Award seeks to recognise sustained efforts to encourage and promote sustainability, focusing on sustained effort and long term initiatives. Here at Peppermint, we care deeply about not just elevating others making change, but actually making a difference ourselves.

We believe that business can be a force for good and be driven by profit for purpose. Over the years, we’ve donated more than $25k to charity, and for every new subscription we plant a tree. We print in Australia on carbon-neutral paper and mail subscriptions plastic free. We use 100% renewable energy for our office. We maintain a policy of no single-use plastics and provide reusable coffee cups, cutlery, smoothie cups, sushi kits, containers and more for staff to buy lunches with.

And something that we are most proud of is that we’ve recently gone through the process of undertaking an extensive emissions audit through the Carbon Reduction Institute, and are now certified NoCo2 (100% Carbon Neutral)! We’re offsetting over and above our carbon emissions through the CRI ‘Cookstoves in Developing Nations’ program that disseminates fuel-efficient wood and charcoal cookstoves to to reduce dependency on traditional biomass fuels. This reduces greenhouse gas emotions, relieves pressure on local forests and assists in reducing the incidence of chronic respiratory disease, improving livelihoods in disadvantaged and poor communities.  

Unfortunately due to the virus that shall not be named, we were unable to participate in the glitz and glamour of an award show ceremony, and so instead we learned of this incredible recognition via the live-stream of the event, amidst many screams in our office (see Instagram post above). We’re still buzzing with excitement and the satisfaction of a sustainable practice well done. Thanks to all of our supporters – we truly couldn’t do it without you!