Environment and Sustainability

March, 2025

Over the past ten months, we've worked hard to get to a carbon-neutral status, and we are there now! Since our initiative began last May, we've funded the removal of 36 tonnes of carbon from our environment, have planted close to 4,000 trees, and 400 kelp plants in Canadian Oceans. We've also rescued 11,000+ plastic bottles from landfill. These small daily tasks of contributing from each order we receive have helped us make a significant impact in a short time.

May, 2024

We've partnered with Greenspark. Through this initiative, we've made a significant commitment to plant trees & kelp, rescue plastic bottles, and remove carbon.  For every order received, we will offset 10kg of carbon, fund planting one tree, planting one kelp in Canadian oceans, and removing three plastic bottles from landfills.  With thousands of orders every year, this will significantly impact our environment and continue our journey of being climate positive. Learn more here: lemon-lily-organic-tea's Impact with Greenspark (getgreenspark.com)

December, 2023

Lemon Lily has been contributing to carbon-neutral shipping for some time. However, it's not enough.  Until all companies are willing to be part of the solution, we must do our part to contribute over and above our carbon impact with a focus on being climate positive.  This means actively going beyond achieving net-zero carbon emissions by creating an environmental benefit by removing additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  

We have partnered with some additional organizations to plant trees, clean the oceans and eliminate more carbon from our environment.

 

April, 2023

Effective immediately, all order shipments (online + retailers) are carbon neutral.  What does this mean?

 

Our Carbon-neutral program ensures a financial commitment from Lemon Lily to every order to support some of the most promising climate projects on Earth. This off-set of carbons allows all of our shipments to be carbon-neutral by participating and funding the following:

• Direct air capture and mineralization and a small portion of nature-based carbon removal.
• Funds companies, such as 44.01, Carbofex, CarbonBuilt, CarbonCure, Charm Industrial, Climeworks, DroneSeed, Grassroots Carbon, Heirloom Carbon, Loam, Noya, Pachama, Planetary, Remora, Running Tide, and Sustaera.

 

 

Facilities Overview
The last several years have been very exciting for us. Since the move to our new facility, we have been able to concentrate and invest in several of our production areas. The expansion of our new facility has allowed us to make significant investments to improve our ability to efficiently process our products to meet the growing demand, and we are committed to the continuous improvement in our food safety management systems.

Safe Food for Canadians
We are Safe Food for Canadians certified. What is safe food for Canadian regulations?  The Regulations (SFCR) came into force on January 15, 2019. The three main components of the SFCR are: licensing, traceability and preventative controls. Licensing: most food businesses require a licence to import, export or send food across provincial and territorial borders.

Environmental Practices
At Lemon Lily, we are aware that all of the decisions we make daily have an impact on our environment, and we want to ensure that our impact is a positive one. We do this by ensuring that our daily operations are in a manner consistent with the best environmental practices. We believe in the preservation of our planet, and for a healthier, cleaner world for generations to come. We employ eco-friendly couriers, subscribe to recycling services, drive electric vehicles, and deliver on carbon-neutral shipping.

Energy Consumption
Our new facility has exceptional natural lighting combined with the use of only 4 energy-efficient lighting panels. Since our products are handcrafted, our equipment and energy usage are limited to energy-efficient blenders and mixers. Everything else is done by hand.

We are committed to reducing our energy consumption levels, and we have replaced our lighting with new low-energy units. We've also added sliding windows and screens to reduce the need for air conditioning and heating.

Recycling and Waste
Our objective with our waste management program has been to maximize our recycling efforts and effectively use our materials, including minimizing our waste and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We have been recycling much of our waste for years, and in 2015 we implemented a new, very comprehensive recycling and waste management plan, and began to thoroughly measure and track what we recycle and send to the landfill. We are pleased to now recycle 99% of our waste.

Paper
The major factor in our reduction of paper use has been going digital with all of our order processing. We only use ecofriendly paper. We also invoice electronically by email to further reduce paper usage. 

Packaging and Packaging Materials
Our objective at Lemon Lily is to efficiently use packaging materials (whenever possible) made from renewable materials, that are recyclable and biodegradable. We recycle all cardboard, paper, glass, and recyclable plastic in our facility.

We have clearly marked containers in work areas for all RECYCLABLE materials including:
All copy and printing paper, including all of our product and shipping labels
Cardboard Boxes (all are recyclable, reusable, biodegradable, and compostable)
Interior packaging materials including packing paper and bubble wrap
Aluminum
Wood scraps
Plastic
Glass
We reuse 95% of the boxes we receive in shipments when fulfilling wholesale orders, reducing waste. We recycle the remaining 5% which are marked up entirely with supplier branding.

Drums
All of our drums and containers are reusable. We clean and organically sanitize everything before reusing them.

Wood pallets
We donate our wood pallets to a local company which turns them into furniture for impoverished families and small businesses.

Printer cartridges
All of the printer ink cartridges we use are recyclable, and all are recycled.

Electronics
If working, they are often donated to various schools or to our employees and their families. If they are not working, then we work with the e-waste recyclers to ensure proper disposal and/or reuse.

Compost
Our green clippings and any tea consumed within our facility in tea bags are donated to a local business who uses it as part of their mulch to grow fruits and vegetables raising money for after-school programs.