Happy Tuesday!

After a bank holiday weekend, this week we’re ready to act! We cover:

Signed, Sealed, Delivered: How your brand can take part in Better Business Day.
The Coconut Collaborative: 4 supply chain principles to be inspired by.
In case you missed it: The Better Business Act: Transforming The Way We Do Business. We spoke to the Better Business Act team to learn more.

> Good News Last Week

🎯 Smaller FMCG brands hitting the bullseye | ⭐️ Larger FMCG brands taking important steps | ⚡️ Relevant industry news, research and announcements

🎯 Rubies in the Rubble launched their 100% recycled and 100% recyclable squeeze ketchup bottles. This innovation includes the cap and valve.

🎯 Wilder Harrier certified as B Corp, scoring 97.9.

🎯 Heura Foods launched their crowdfund, and in 1 hour hit €1m, with €4m raised after 12 hours - achieving their fundraising target by 420%.

⭐️ Bumble Bee Foods revealed their new packaging, opting for cardboard rather than plastic film to wrap all their products. The transition is estimated to save 23 million pieces of plastic waste each year. Bumble Bee had already made 96% of packaging recyclable, but this eliminates the last 4%.

⭐️ Pret A Manger has joined forces with Podback to help customers recycle coffee pods, making Collect+ recycling available in Pret stores.

⭐️ Intel has pledged to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its global operations by 2040. They aim to do this via renewable energy procurement, green chemical trials and a $300m energy savings investment.

⚡️ Nestle, Danone, Unilever and PepsiCo are amongst industry giants who have set out a vision for how nascent chemical recycling industry can become safe and environmentally responsible.

⚡️ Material Exchange announced their €25 million raise in a Series A. The company currently helps brands like H&M and Ugg with material sourcing.

> Click on each link to read more.

> Quick Take

Signed, Sealed, Delivered: How your brand can take part in Better Business Day.

The Better Business Act calls for the UK Government to amend Section 172 of the Companies Act to ensure that all businesses are legally responsible for benefiting workers, customers, communities and the environment while delivering profit.

What does this actually mean? We asked the BBA team all the hard questions about exactly what this act means for SMEs, and what it could change - read the interview here.

Since its launch almost exactly a year ago, the BBA has gone from strength to strength. They’ve welcomed Mary Portas and Douglas Lamont as Campaign Co-Chairs. Amazingly, over 1000 supporters - from Oddbox to Graze, Fuel10k to Pukka Herbs - have joined the coalition, a jump from the 550 members we reported on in June. Following the Footprints has signed up too! Want to check if your favourite brand has signed up? Search here.

Now, the BBA are calling for the act to be included by the Government in the next Queen’s Speech. How? By petitioning MPs to make the case for the BBA in parliament. Psst - they’ve even created a template for you to email your local MP here.

Next up? Better Business Day - tomorrow! On the 20th April, almost 300 BBA supporters will be gathering in Westminster to make the case for the Better Business Act. Better Business Day in Parliament will be a pivotal moment in the BBA campaign, aiming to build further momentum before the Government lays out its legislative agenda for the year ahead in the Queen’s Speech. The event is open to all supporters of the Better Business Act as well as parliamentarians, business leaders and individuals who are interested in supporting the campaign.

Want to be there? Find out more and register to take part here.

Can’t join in person? Support from afar in two ways:

Join the Better Business Act coalition here. It takes 2 minutes!
Spread the word - check out the BBA’s digital toolkit to help you spread the word about the act.

Interested? Read more coverage about the BBA…

*Mary Portas, BBA Co-Chair. Source: LinkedIn*

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> Brand Spotlight

The Coconut Collaborative: 4 supply chain principles to be inspired by.

Lent is over and Veganuary is a distant memory, but you’re still committed to eating more plant based despite Easter renewing your childhood sweet tooth. Look no further than The Coconut Collaborative.

Celebrating their 8th birthday last week, the British company has taken the dairy free dessert industry by storm (and we thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, your choc pots have got us through some very long days). Now, they’re Europe’s best selling non-dairy yoghurt brand. Harnessing the power of coconuts, and the natural goodness of plants, The Coconut Collaborative have a wide range of yoghurts, desserts, ice creams, custards and kids pouches that you can get your hands on in supermarkets (find out where here), online and in some of our favourite restaurants too - from Leon to Wagamamas.

Whilst you could definitely argue that the taste of The Coconut Collaborative’s products are the best thing since, well, 2014, the company’s effort in sustainability and supply chain could coco-not go unmentioned (sorry, we had to).

When sourcing ingredients, The Coconut Collaborative has a strict supplier vetting process - ensuring that people and planet truly come first…

They have four key principles, that any brand can take inspiration from:

They assess all suppliers via SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit), which is the most widely used social audit in the world. From this, The Coconut Collaborative only works with suppliers that are fully compliant and aligned with the company's standards on ethics, labour, environment and health and safety.
They only source and use non-GMO ingredients from suppliers that have GMO Free Certificates. Most products have also been Non GMO Project verified, audited and certified.
They never use palm oil. Not now, not ever.
Finally, there’s no monkey business. The Coconut Collaborative never source from farms that use monkeys. They’re committed to a strong focus on animal welfare.

Currently, The Coconut Collaborative is focusing on completing carbon footprinting, to better understand the wider environmental impact of their products and supply chain. Helping this journey is their commitment to achieving full supply chain transparency, which allows them to trace every coconut right back to the farmers in the Philippines. Like Alter Eco (who we recently featured), Ben & Jerrys, Nespresso and L’Oreal, they have partnered with Pur Projet to support offsetting, insetting and regenerative agriculture. So far, since 2015, they have supported Pur Projet in planting over 20,000 trees in Pejarakan, Bali.

They’re also looking at other areas of impact across their operations - working towards all plastic packaging being fully recyclable and all cardboard being from recycled materials and FSC certified sources. This trickles down to their sample too - where they use only vegware spoons and paper cups. Turns out the secret to delicious desserts is really in the details.

Interested? Read on…

Read more about the incredible work that Pur Projet and their partners do here.
Find out more about the projects that The Coconut Collaborative support here.

Support The Coconut Collaborative via their shop:

Shop The Coconut Collaborative

> In case you missed it

The Better Business Act: Transforming The Way We Do Business

Following the Footprints

🌱Better Business Day: 1 day left to get…