What does that mean? The B in Certified B Corporation, or B Corp, stands for “Benefit for all” – this means, B Corps (including us!) are a mighty group of companies that are certified to use business as a force for good.  

Since the beginning, we’ve been serious about sustainability. From showcasing high quality single origin coffee to championing fairer prices for producers to giving a damn about the environment, we have always been for profit, for partying, and also fiercely, for planet and people. 

Fast forward and we’re stoked to have formalised and benchmarked our commitment to social and climate causes by being B Corp certified with a score of 90.7. As we grow, the B Corp certification will act as a benchmark for improvement and a tool for accountability as we continue to fight for No Death To Coffee. 

HOW’D WE GET TO A B? 

Always the optimist, we thought it would take us two months to get here. In reality, it took us two years to complete their questionnaire, including over 1,000 questions with proof of process and reporting to back up what we were saying. We can definitely confirm that the B Lab crew and their systems are good and thorough.  

To receive a B Corp certification, a company must verify that it’s met the high standards for social and environmental impact laid out by B Lab and achieve at least 80 points across its five impact pillars: Governance, Workers, Environment, Customers, and Community.  

You can probably guess that our strongest pillar was Environment. Since we found out that the “land that is suitable for growing Arabica is predicted to halve by 2050”, we’ve been turbo-charged on our No Death To Coffee initiatives. From fully compostable 150 and 250g bags to co-creating the Juggler, that cuts down on plastic waste by 80%, we’re always finding ways to reuse, recycle, and reduce to minimise our environmental impact at the roastery, our cafes, and on the road. 

On our mission to kill emissions, our Roastworks in Botany has been 30% solar powered since 2013 and 100% green powered since 2019. At our cafes, we co-created the Freepour Batch Brew Taps that delivers speedy, single origin coffee with less waste and energy use, and the Juggler, the milk dispensing system that has saved over 100 million plastic milk bottles from landfill, with our mates at Six Simple Machines.  For those on the go, we also created (probably) the world’s first compostable coffee drip bag with our Parachutes so you can brew a delicious cup of O – no matter where life takes you. 

For any waste we do create, we try to reuse or recycle. In 2024, our cafes in Surry Hills and Newstead have diverted over 13,500 kg of their coffee grounds from landfill.  We’ve also partnered with the legends at Reground in Victoria to divert 37,000 kg of coffee grounds in the first roaster-led grounds collection – so far, this program has saved over 70,000 kg of emissions.  

When it comes to chaff, the husk that comes off a coffee bean during the roasting process, we fill approximately 1,456 GrainPro bags or 6,000 kg of chaff every year and compost it through our waste partners. More recently, we’ve been sharing it with our Botany neighbours, Beer Fontaine, to upcycle. You heard that right – keep your eyes peeled for an emissions-quenching lager coming soon! 

We also scored pretty well for Workers and Community. The people we work with and the communities we’re a part of are what makes Single O – well, Single O! We’ve got a crew full of hospo heart and passion for quality who bring their whole selves to work, whether they’re brewing the perfect cup, roasting beans to perfection, or volunteering their time for causes close to our hearts. 

Whether it’s helping the legends at ReLove deliver furniture to people rebuilding their lives and homes, working with Two Good to upskill and empower resilient women, or sorting through tens of thousands of microplastics with the crew at Seabin, we aim to support grassroots organisations whenever we can. And of course, every August we rally our wholesale network to join CafeSmart, an annual fundraiser for local homeless shelters, and have achieved top roaster status seven times in the last nine years (with two notable second-place finishes). Going for eight this year! 

All that to say that we’re not perfect and there’s always room for improvement. We’re not happy that we haven’t found a more sustainable 1 kg bag that maintains coffee quality to our standards, so we’re still on the hunt for a solution there. We’re also still in the process of converting our fleet of vehicles to electric to hit the brakes on CO2 emissions. Not to mention, we’re looking to get our Japan team B Corp certified next! 

No matter which initiatives we set our sights on, the area we could improve the most is with process. Yep – to no one’s surprise, we’re a little wayward here at Single O. There’s a lot of good stuff going on but with brains not wired for admin and sometimes no way to measure our impact, we lost a few points because we couldn’t prove it. No skin off our back – we know what we’ve done has had a positive impact, measured or not – but good to know for next time when we have to recertify in three years.

BEYOND THE B