Kokako Organic

Kokako Organic is a fair trade organic coffee roaster and catering service. It operates a cafe in Parnell, Auckland. The ethos behind Kokako is that great coffee and delicious food should be good for you as it is for the producers and the environment. Kokako aims to source only the best fair trade and organic ingredients for their products, both locally and internationally.

Kokako’s blends of 100% certified fair trade and organic coffee, purely indulgent hot chocolate and Grab & Go range of salads, bakes and slices are available at some of the country’s best specialty food stores including Farro Fresh, Harvest Wholefoods, Huckleberry Farms and Commonsense Organics in Wellington.

Kokako Organic supports the rehabilitation of the Kokako, an endangered bird, by sponsoring organisations who are working to regenerate the natural habitat of the Kokako and ensure it is safe for future breeding.

The challenge

To come up with fully sustainable packaging that will biodegrade and still protect and preserve Kokako’s high quality product. Coffee is a perishable product. Once roasted it should be consumed within 10-14 days, not packed into foil containers with long shelf lives. So far no packaging suppliers have been able to supply a truly sustainable coffee bag solution.

Another challenge is what to do with organic waste in an inner city urban environment.

Some responses

• Kokako sourced their own sealable biodegradable 200g bags for coffee packaging, made from wood cellulose. These break down in a residential compost bin in approximately 45 days. The bag is merchandised in a cardboard outer that can be recycled. Kokako is working closely with their supplier to find bags that are strong enough for larger quantities.
• Kokako is working with the founder of New Zealand’s first commercial worm farms conducting trials on giant worm farm bins. These are fed with organic coffee chaff from the coffee roasting process and off-cuts of organic produce from the kitchen.

The results

• Kokako is the first coffee roaster in New Zealand to offer a fully biodegradable packaging option.
• Waste to landfill has been significantly reduced and all of Kokako’s organic waste is positively regenerated – transformed into compost and fertilizer, via the worm farms, that can be used in gardens.

Northern Regional Awards judges' comments

• Kokako is engaged in community and environmental initiatives such as Ark in the Park (set up by Royal NZ Forest and Bird) and the Tiri Tiri Matangi Wildlfe Trust. All proceeds from the sale of organic coffee grinds (used on gardens) go to the Ark in the Park project.
• Kokako is pioneering sustainable business practices such as commercial worm farms and fully biodegradable packaging produced from wood cellulose and packaged in recyclable cardboard.
• Kokako is committed to influencing and advancing sustainable behaviours in the coffee roasting industry and educating customers and suppliers through promoting organics, composting, fair trade and responsible business practices.