Our Journey - Timeline and Milestones

Over the years, some 250 people have worked with Biome, and we dedicate these milestones to all the awesomeness you have contributed.

2003

Biome launches from Tracey’s lounge room – Australia's first online eco store with a mission to see through the marketing spin and help consumers make choices that are safer for the planet and people.  Among our first ranges are reusable water bottles, shampoo bars (yes, 18 years ago!), and Bokashi composting. 

This is before the iPhone and Facebook existed!

2005

Encouraged by the response to Biome’s pioneering sustainable solutions, Tracey opens Biome's first store in Paddington, Brisbane.

Arranging Green Power is almost unheard of, and it is radical for us to not offer a bag with purchase.  Our customers soon embrace bringing their own.

We offer in-store recycling for corks, batteries, mobile phones and print cartridges – because no one else does.

2007

Our second store opens in the Brisbane CBD – the first eco store in a high street location in the world!

All this time, we never purchased a box to ship our orders.  We gather them from local businesses and dumpster dives – wine cartons from bottle shops are a favourite!

2009

Reusable alternatives, such as KeepCups, are invented to combat the rise of single use waste. We are proud to be one of the first retailers to sell KeepCups and champion other reusables like water bottles, shopping bags, and straws. 

It is a hard push to get coffee shops to accept a reusable coffee cup, but we don’t give up.

2012

Our third store in Brisbane opens in a major indoor shopping centre – we want to make it super convenient for people to access conscious choices, especially those who don’t know they exist!

We launch a Kiva lending team to support micro-enterprises that promote a more sustainable way of living and doing business.

2014

As our online operations grow, we set up headquarters in Milton, Brisbane. 

We continue to be zealous about diverting our waste from landfill, including sending all soft plastics we receive to REDcycle (something we started doing early on and before the bins appeared in supermarkets).

2016

A new store at Balmoral joins our party with our first Naked Beauty Bar, offering zero waste bulk ingredients to help customers reduce beauty packaging waste.

This world-first idea becomes Biome's signature offering.

From day one, we shone a harsh light on the toxins to avoid.  And now, we name our list of ingredients you won't find at Biome, "the Dirty 30” – though it’s many more than 30 now.

We introduce our in-store recycling service in partnership with Terracycle for hard-to-recycle items such as toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes, pens and beauty packaging.

2017

Biome is the first Australian retailer awarded B Corp certification for operating a business with the highest social and environmental standards.  We walk the talk by being vetted ourselves!

We partner with Greening Australia to offset the environmental impacts of shipping online parcels by donating to their Reef Aid program every year.

We demonstrate the collective power of individual actions with our Power of One report.  By choosing to reuse, in just one year, our customers save over 6.7 million single use products from being made, transported, wasted, or ending up in our rivers, oceans and landfill.

Leading the industry, we take a stand against the environmental destruction caused by the farming and production of palm oil. We remove all products that contain palm and become the first retailer in the world to gain endorsement from Palm Oil Investigations for being 100% palm oil free.

2018

Biome is a finalist in the Responsible Retailer of the Year award at the World Retail Awards.

We donate $1,000 to Jakarta Animal Aid Network to help fund the transportation and release of Jono, a confiscated orangutan stuck in Jakarta.

Our parcels are now plastic free! We swap plastic packaging tape for paper tape that is 100% recyclable.

We launch Australia's only palm oil free, vegan and ethical lifestyle subscription box.

Biome Collective opens, a workshop space for the community to learn, make and share.

Our customers save the waste of over 10.2 million single use items from landfill in 12 months. This is the Power of One!

Slow Fashion arrives at Biome to take a stand against fast fashion.

2019

Biome commits to being Net Zero by 2030 with other B Corp companies at the UN Climate Change Conference. This means Net Zero emissions directly from our operations, the energy we purchase, and in our supply chain, achieved by reducing emissions wherever possible and using verified offsets, emphasising carbon removal projects, to balance emissions that cannot be eliminated.

We donate $5,000 to International Animal Rescue for everyone who shares the #PalmOffPalmOil tag. This donation helps to release formerly captive orangutan, Manis, back into the wild.

We head to the Gold Coast to open our first store by the sea at the Brickworks Centre in Southport.

Melbourne is next with our new store at Burwood Brickworks, a centre with the vision to create the world's most sustainable shopping centre.

2020

We launch our Zero Waste Fundraising program to help schools, community groups and charities fundraise with minimal impact on the planet.

2021

We hope our journey inspires you that it is all about progress, not perfection.  Keep pushing, keep evolving, keep believing!