Sustainability
The team behind Little Étoile® believes in a sustainable future for all of our little stars! By implementing sustainable production methods and maintaining ethical practices, we are paving the way for a brighter future.
Our Mission
Environmental sustainability within industry is a community-wide issue that influences the daily lives of all people. At Little Étoile, we strive to maintain sustainability initiatives beyond the minimum standards bestowed upon corporate entities. We are committed to creating the most premium quality nutrition products while prioritizing the care of our environment and support of our communities.
Our Commitments
- Partnering with companies where sustainability is a key driver, rather than an afterthought
- Sourcing the finest quality raw materials through ethical means
- Supporting well-being, through the use of safe, nutritious ingredients, such as grass-fed Australian cow’s milk and organic ingredients
- Using environmentally friendly packaging where possible for each of our product ranges
- Endeavoring to support the wider public through community-based measures
- Acting to achieve waste reduction goals over a set timeline.
- Embracing economic sustainability, by supporting local and regional activities
With innovation at the forefront of our environmentally conscious goals, we aim to maintain the highest sustainability thresholds, thus leading the community by example in preserving nature and decreasing ecological degradation.
Progress and Initiatives
Packaging and Waste
We are a proud member of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organization (APCO). This membership with APCO reaffirms our proud goal of implementing completely sustainable practices within corporate structures. We have already implemented several adaptations into the workings of the initiative and our corporate space. These implementations have led to significant environmental contributions through improvements:
- Packaging design, sustainability, and procurement
- Use of recycled/renewable materials
- Package labeling to promote recycling
- Post-consumer packaging recovery and re-use
- “Green Office” recycling practices
Responsible Sourcing
Certified Organic ingredients
Our Little Étoile Organic baby food range is Australian Certified Organic (ACO). To be certified organic, our farmers must avoid most synthetic pesticides and fertilizers; manage soil fertility through sustainable practices like tillage, crop rotations, composting; and avoid genetic engineering and sewage sludge. Livestock and poultry are given 100 percent organic feed, not treated with antibiotics or hormones, and given access to the outdoors year-round.
Grass-fed milk
Our Little Étoile Nutrition formulas are produced with grass-fed Australian cow’s milk, from happy cows raised on the clean, green pastures of Victoria, including the Gippsland region.
Grass-based diets are more sustainable due to using fewer energy-intensive inputs and, by regularly moving animals to fresh pasture and keeping them away from streambeds, they spread the manure more evenly and improve the quality and quantity of forage growth.
Independently produced ingredients
At the Max Biocare Research Park in Yinnar, Victoria, we are currently investing in our own capacity to produce clean, plant-based nutrition ingredients, which we intend to include in future Little Étoile products.
The Park has translated over the stringent quality management approach used by the Max Biocare Group, which we have extended into our sustainability criteria, adopting the use of renewable energy, renewable water sources, waste recycling, and chemical-free growing. Many of our practices already align with those outlined by ACO, and parts of our facilities are even geared up to become ACO compliant.
Community Outreach
Little Étoile believes that we are all part of the same global community, drawing from the same nutritional resources and growing the next global generation of little stars for the future. From all the feed-back we have received and taken on board, we understand the need for a “feed-forward” approach to community engagement.
Max Biocare Research Park
At the Max Biocare Research Park in Yinnar we focus on engaging, supporting and adding value to the local Gippsland community by:
- Purchasing all equipment and supplies locally
- Engaging with the local community in various conservation projects, including tree planting and bee-keeping.
- Supporting local community groups through sponsorship
Young Sparks
Our little stars are the bright sparks of tomorrow! This free program with global outreach was developed exclusively by Max Biocare, and was established with the aim of helping children and families access extra-curricular learning and development opportunities through events, activities, courses and scholarships.
Young Sparks Academy has partnered with a variety of groups including Tornelo and the Australian School of Entrepreneurship to host a range of exciting and engaging events since its inception in 2019, including international Chess tournaments and learning days.
Nurture Central
An online platform by Max Biocare dedicated to providing free, accurate and evidence-based information for family health and well-being. Featuring an expert panel of top professionals in the infant, child and maternal health space.
Nuture Central have “conceived” the idea of “Nurtition”, a unique concept that combines the principles of wellness through nutrition with elements of nurturing, because getting the right knowledge to enable parents to care for our next generation of stars makes our ability to care for then even better.
Mums & Bubs Health and Nutrition Group
An online Facebook community group, run by the nutrition team at Max Biocare, which supports and educate mums-to-be and mums of infants and toddlers in the area of health and nutrition.
Mums from our community group have actively participated in research that has helped to mold and “nurture” our products into what they are today, a growing family of quality products. So indirectly, our products are also designed by mums, for mums.
Charity donation
We provide regular donations of our products (food and medicine) and monetary donations to charities and community groups in need such as Food Bank, Salvation Army, Uniting, and St Kilda Mums. We donated over 25,000 products (valued at nearly $100,000) across 2020-2021 .
We responded to the Australian Bushfire crisis in 2019/2020 by donating $15,000 to the following organizations to ensure our efforts are spread across the key areas of emergency services, humanitarian relief, and animal welfare: The NSW Rural Fire Service, The Australian Red Cross, WIRES Wildlife Rescue.
International community support
We run annual programs in Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, China and Laos to support local communities and organizations via donation of money and products (food and medicine), event sponsorship, building community gardens and community education initiatives.
Our presence in these international markets has helped us to understand that there are still thousands of children growing up there under socially and economically challenging conditions. We feel it is part of our responsibility to give back when and where we can.
Sustainable Partnerships
Our certified organic and conventional raw material suppliers and contract manufacturers are committed to sustainable goals such as:
- Renewable energy sources and efficient consumption
- Environment regeneration
- Low-carbon dairy practices
- Farming techniques that lower greenhouse gas emissions
- No hormones, and limited use of antibiotics
- Animal health & wellbeing
- Supporting independent and local farmers
- Using recyclable and compostable packaging
- Responsible partnerships
- GMO free
- Preservatives/additives free.
Our Goals
The team behind Little Étoile is committed to implementing Sustainable Packaging Guidelines towards our goal for sustainable development.
- Review and assess packaging materials with favorable properties (safety, potential to re-use and recycling and eco-balance)
- Maximise use of packaging which is fit for re-use and recycle packaging materials where possible.
- Optimise packaging design for handling, transport, and logistics.
- Promote recycling using appropriate logos onto products and on existing marketing platforms.
- Transit packaging to be reusable or recyclable at distribution/ retail stores.
- On-site re-use and recycling program for most of the packaging materials like cardboard, glass, aluminum and plastic bottles, paper, printer, and photocopier cartridges. Consideration should be given to kerbside recycling for primary packaging.
- To conduct regular waste reviews to ensure additional opportunities to recycle will be identified and be implemented accordingly.
- To communicate to employees that they have an obligation to protect the environment for the benefit of the wider community.
- To evaluate and supervise employees to ensure that work is conducted in an environmentally friendly manner.
- To assess and review this guideline in a timely manner to achieve optimum sustainable packaging outcomes.
Sustainable packaging should reduce environmental impact, use resources efficiently and minimize landfill while ensuring the maintenance of product quality, integrity, and safety.
