Going green isn’t a buzzword phrase with us at Cupper’s Coffee & Tea. It’s not only our pre-roasted coffee on the pallets in the back that’s green! Even better, us working on being green helps you be greener too. Keep reading to see ALL the ways we’re always trying to cut back and help out.
How is Cupper's keeping it green?
1. We Recycle!
- We recycle – a LOT. This includes cardboard, glass & plastic bottles, tetra packs, milk jugs, and soda cans.
- Shredding and recycling all our paper and left-over labels helps too.
- We recycle all our ink cartridges from our printers and photocopier.
- Get a paper bag. If you want a bag for all the goodies you’ve found, we have reusable, recycled kraft paper bags for you. No more plastic bags here!
- Bring your own bag in. We love that too!
- We give away our burlap coffee bags for re-use and re-purpose. Sack race, anyone? Or for use in your garden? Or to make an apron? Home decor? The possibilities seem endless! If you need inspiration for a burlap craft, there’s a bunch of great ideas on Pintrest.
- Composting – We compost all the chaff from our coffee roaster. All our used coffee grounds and wet paper filters make great compost too.
2. We Reuse!
- We re-use packaging materials we receive. Think packing paper, popcorn pellets, bubble wrap, bubble pack rolls, and cardboard boxes.
- Our local Lethbridge vendors deliver their products to us in large, reusable bags, totes or cardboard boxes. We give those back to them for the next delivery. (Thank you for being awesome as well as making awesome products!)
- We re-use and recycle the pallets our green beans arrive on. It’s amazing how high the wood and plastic pallets pile up.
- Re-use and re-fill your coffee bag. Bring in your one pound coffee bags to re-use. As long as the zip is good, we can refill it for you. You also get 40¢ off the pound of coffee for reusing the bag!
3. We Refuse!
- Changed our straws to plant-based materials – All our straws are made of a plant-based material that doesn’t fall apart like a paper straw. Or buy a reusable straw set for yourself!
- Bring in your own mug. We make your drink in your travel mug and you get a 25¢ discount. Bonus!
- No more portion-packs. We quit making office-coffee foil/plastic portion-packs. Our awesome wholesale customers now get 5-lb bags instead. This by itself is a huge reduction in packaging!
- Tea that’s not packaged in plastic. Paperboard or metal, and compostable packaging is our norm. This includes the actual tea bag, too.
- We’re converting all our old light bulbs into energy-efficient bulbs. (It’s a lot of bulbs.)
- We minimize paper towels by using a linen and carpet service.
4. We Change!
Change can be hard, but sometimes it’s easy too! So we looked at our 1 lb printed coffee bags. We liked our old bags. They worked well, held up to re-use, and kept coffee fresh. But the problem was in disposal. There is nowhere these could be recycled once they’d reached the end of their usage. So every time someone purchased a bag of coffee, it generated more landfill.
We had looked for YEARS for a good alternative, but there was always something missing. But in 2022 we finally found a bag that met all our very particular needs.
What was needed for 'green' retail bags?
First, the bag needed a the vent for your fresh roasted coffee. Then, it also had to look awesome to match the coffee in them. As well, it had to hold up to re-use. Some times a lot of re-use! Finally, and most important of all – it had to be recyclable. And not just “recyclable-where-facilities-exist”, but true and LOCALLY recyclable. We worked with the Lethbridge Waste & Recycling Department (they were great!) to make sure they could accept our new bags. And they can and do!
So if you live in Lethbridge or somewhere with blue bin pick-up, add it to the bin and you’re set. If you recycle your plastics, the bags are a #2 plastic, which is easy to recycle.
And that’s a great way to help you enjoy your coffee even more!
5. We encourage
We know Cupper’s is an amazing retail store, but we’re also an amazing wholesale supplier. As such, we encourage our wholesale partners to make environmentally friendly changes. We also ask this of our vendors, including asking them to reduce packaging, minimize printing and paper usage, and use recyclable/reusable packing materials.
If you are looking to make changes in your own workplace check out our article 8 Easy Changes To Make Your Café More Sustainable. After all, we’re all in this together.
