Healthy for environment and profit: Tamworth business putting in effort to be sustainable

Across NSW, 72 per cent of businesses believe being environmentally friendly will improve their profitability over the next five years, essentially meaning that going green gets you the green.

That trend has reached the Tamworth region, although the motives are not purely about money, but rather doing what is best for the planet.

Campgrounds cafe barista Alison Spires said it was a focus of theirs.

"There's lots of different things that we're doing here in order to make conscious choices about our sustainability, both on a small scale and large scale," she said.

"There's things like going with a more sustainable coffee cup, which is biodegradable and with our coffee here it's really special.

"It's made so it doesn't f**k anyone over, that's what the roaster says about it, it just means people get paid the right amount of money for the efforts they put in."

The study also found 55 per cent of customers were willing to pay more to support a business acting sustainably, and Ms Spires said the coffee lovers who frequent Campgrounds do appreciate their efforts.

"That's something that is really important to us, keeping a really high level of product going out to customers, it means they're always going to get something good," she said.

"And I think our clientele and customers really appreciate what we're doing."

Local business mogul Jye Segboer, who operates cafes, hotels and restaurants, also acknowledged the importance of being green.

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He said most of his venues have solar panels, they use ground coffee as compost in the garden beds at his function centre, use biodegradable coffee cups and avoid plastic wherever possible.

Mr Segboer said it has been hard to focus on sustainability over the past couple of years, with COVID making staying afloat the main goal. But, he agrees customers are more environmentally conscious than ever.

"You have to move your business in terms of ensuring you're meeting customers expectations," he said.

"So the more a consumer wants businesses to move to more of a sustainable platform, businesses will of course have to adapt that to meet the customer demand for it."

While businesses may benefit financially from going green, it can even pay for organisations such as Tamworth Regional Council to get aboard the bandwagon.

Director of water and waste Bruce Logan said beyond improving council's reputation, sustainability is a crucial part of forward planning.

"Council has its sustainability group which consists of a coordinator and three officers, and they work in the areas of solid waste, water and energy," he said.

"Their goals are to reduce the amount of waste we're putting in landfill, maximise our recycling, reduce the amount of treated water we use, and in the energy area to reduce the amount of energy council consumes.

"We had a sustainability scheme that went from 2017 to 2021 ... and we will be seeking community input into what we've done and what we should be doing in the future to improve sustainability, presuming that's what the community wants us to do."

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