White Whale Coffee Roaster joined the ecoBiz program in 2019 and saw improvement in their waste and energy efficiencies almost immediately. To Ali and Stephen Slotemaker, the owners of the Cairns-based business, the benefits go beyond minimising their environmental impact, reducing emissions and saving money.  

Ali has a degree in environmental science but said it took her several years to connect her studies to business ownership. “It seems so obvious now. We needed to look at everything we were doing because all the little things add up. We discovered ecoBiz on that pathway.” 

“The staff are more engaged and conscious. They want to work at White Whale because we value sustainability.” 

Stephen and Ali’s decision to prioritise White Whale’s sustainability has resulted in a bigger customer base. There is a growing trend for people to seek out and support genuinely sustainable businesses and White Whale is evidence of that. Just as importantly, Ali and Stephen were able to build an engaged and passionate team because of their genuine commitment to sustainability. Their staff love working there, and people want to work there. Ali adds, “Being sustainable really helps us with recruiting the type of people we want to have on our team. They’re conscious about the environment, customers and who they work with which is a real bonus in a competitive job market. 

A great ecoBiz coach and a committed coffee business – a great blend

Every business that joins ecoBiz is assigned a personal coach and White Whale made the most of their experienced coach Fiona Sleight. Most of the recommendations were simple and able to be implemented straight away. Ali says, “Fiona was fantastic. She has become someone I definitely reach out to and lean on for support and ideas.” 

White Whale is making a real difference with their sustainability initiatives: 

• Reduced electricity intensity by 67%. 
• Saved thousands of dollars by switching to energy efficient lighting. 
• Fed almost 14,000 kilowatts of electricity back into the grid.   
• Reduced waste intensity by 30%. 
• Stopped selling bottled water, installing a chilled water tap for customers to use. 
• Plan to instal a 15kW solar unit to further reduce grid power. 

Now an ecoBiz two-Star Partner, White Whale Coffee Roaster is one of more than 100 Far North Queensland Businesses being guided by Business Chamber Queensland’s ecoBiz program. As more businesses come to understand that sustainability makes good business sense, the ecoBiz program will continue to grow and become a valuable resource for businesses of all sizes all over Queensland.