Across our business, we are striving to ensure that we take a considered approach to sustainable practices from the production to the delivery of finished product. Our pursuit of sustainability also extends to our Green coffee sourcing practices, to support industry initiatives that foster both environmental and financial sustainability for producers. Some of our current initiatives include:
COFFEE BAGS
From the 21st of May, we are transitioning our coffee bags to Home Compostable stock (AS5810 20266). Crafted with a plant-based lining, these bags retain a high barrier structure for optimum coffee protection so your coffee stays fresher for longer, but will break down in a home compost bin within one year under proper conditions. Throughout this transition period, you may still see some of our older LDPE packaging in circulation for a short time.
Simply remove all stickers, and pop it straight in the compost! If your local council support FOGO composting, these can likely also be composted using the relevant bins to your area, but you should check the above certification with your local council to be sure.
TAKEAWAY CUPS
In our venues, we use industrial compostable take away cups (EN13432 AS4736) and lids (ABAP 10061 AS4736). We also offer discounts for BYO cups to incentivise repsponsible customer behaviour.
REDUCING SINGLE USE PACKAGING
In our wholesale business, where we can we utilise a re-useable tin system instead of single-use bags. We are moving to re-usable crates instead of boxes for local deliveries where we can.
We also offer a discount for BYO containers for retail bean sales, that we fill from our re-usable coffee tins. Pricing is per 100g, so we can fill any clean and sealable container you want to bring in.
SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS
We use recyclable or biodegradable materials where we can, as well as trying to repurpose what we have.
- We offer our used coffee grinds and hessian coffee sacks to the community to repurpose.
- We re-use coffee grain pro bags around our roastery in place of bin liners, as well as giving them away to the community for re-use.
- We use compostable mailers for our online orders, or recyclable carboard boxes.
- Our invoice slips are compostable, and our packing tape is recyclable.
We continue to be on the lookout for more sustainable and innovative materials that we can use throughout our business, to further reduce our environmental impact.
IN OUR SOURCING
We work with importers that are committed to the betterment of the coffee growing community at origin, and we deeply value these long term partnerships. This provides opportunities for producers to improve the quality of their coffee, through education initiatives and on the ground support for innovation in agricultural techniques and processing methods. This in turn supports sustainability in the industry, both in encouraging environmental best practices, but also in ensuring economic sustainability by paying producers fairly.
In the coffee industry, supporting quality and innovation at a farm level helps increase revenue paid to producers for their beans, and contributes to a more sustainable coffee supply chain. The more farmers are able to sell their coffee in the specialty market, the more they are able to achieve prices reflective of the quality they are producing.
In recent years, we have seen the real time effects of changing climates on our industry, as well as many others. We firmly believe that we all play a role in reducing our environmental impact, and preserving our planet (and its coffee plants) for future generations.