What We Stand For

At Chunky, our mission is to make a difference. We want to do what's best for our artists, our customers, our staff and the environment. 

As a start up business we try our best, but we’re not perfect - there are still a lot of areas where we can improve. This page serves to communicate what we do now, but also the things that we don’t do yet, or maybe don’t know yet. As we grow we will update this page so that we increase the list of things we do well and reduce the number of things that we can do or improve on.

We are a purpose-driven, socially and environmentally responsible business, we believe we can make a positive impact in our society and add value to our community. We want to make sure we walk the talk and that we take care not just of the environment but also of our people.

 

Here's the things we are already doing that we are proud of:

  • We pay our artists well for their services. Artists seem to always be asked to do something for nothing, so we are trying to go the other direction. As of February 2022 we have paid out over NZ$150,000 to our artists. 
  • We pay our staff the New Zealand Living Wage as a minimum. Staff are encouraged to work whatever hours, days and times of day that suits them. This flexibility allows our team to be engaged but also happy enjoying their hobbies and passions. 
  • We support local schools and other organisations through donations of our products.

Planet before profits: closing the loop and promoting a reuse culture, these are our not-for-profit initiatives…

The Bottle Recycling Initiative. While we are trying to stop the use of single use bottles and cups we also need to ensure our own product can be recycled, this way the resources can return to the system and keep circulating, instead of going to landfill. We want to work closer towards a circular economy, which aims to eliminate waste and the continual use of resources.

The Chunky Loan Cup System. In 2021 we launched our second not-for-profit initiative, which has been supported by QLDC’s Waste Minimisation Fund. The Chunky Loan Cup System is about reducing waste, but most importantly, it’s about educating and leading behavioural change. All we want is less consuming, more reusing.

We are committed to improving our sustainability practices and making specific plans to reduce our environmental impact. So in 2021 we incorporated our own Sustainability Advisor to the team. We are developing waste and carbon minimisation plans, which include actions like reducing and reusing our delivery packaging.

We calculated our 2021 Carbon Footprint! We took part of the Climate Action Initiative “Know Your Number!” workshops provided by Wao and supported by QLDC, Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism. We identified the areas of greatest impact within our business and we are gathering data to do the same in 2022. Knowing our number will allow us to make a plan to reduce our emissions in 2023. Check "Climate Action Initiative" to know more.

 

Here are some things we don't do yet, but want to:

  • Whilst we have a good relationship with our manufacturing partners in China we are yet to visit their facilities. This is a priority for us, but we have to wait until international borders re-open. We wish to ensure that the suppliers we are dealing with have ethical manufacturing processes and working conditions. We would also like to know more about the resources used in the manufacturing process and its emissions.

Here are some things we want to get a better understanding of:

  • We would like to get a fuller picture of the overall benefits to the environment of our Bottle Recycling Initiative and the Chunky Loan Cup System.

    We would like to find better ways to measure our positive impact whether it is by calculating waste diverted from landfill (for example, number of single use cups prevented) or tons of stainless steel bottles recycled. We would also like to study the impact of the resources that are used during the recycling process, including the impact of courier vans collecting the used bottles and cups from our participating retailers. We do wait until our retailers have 6 for collection before we pick up which means less courier trips and the re-use of our 6 bottle cardboard cartons.

 

Plans for 2022?

  • We are reaching out to cafes all around New Zealand, as we would like to see the Chunky Loan Cup System running throughout the country! We are also slowly contacting accommodation complexes and tourism providers so they can join the movement too.
  • We are working alongside cafes providing them with training and education around waste minimization and sustainability. We believe collaboration is key to understanding better ways of living and doing business.
  • We are getting involved in some local and national campaigns like SUCfree Whakatipu and #TakeAwayThrowAways. We would also like to collaborate with businesses and get involved in more community initiatives. 
  • We are gathering data to calculate our 2022 Carbon Footprint.