04.06.2024
At the White Feather Coffee Co we are on a mission – and we mean it!
We do everything we can to put looking after the environment at the forefront of our business, that’s why this World Environment Day we want to take some time to tell you all about what we do to make a difference.
It’s always been important to us as a business that our green credentials don’t just become a tick box exercise. It’s vital that we ensure that all that we do actual makes a difference, and that we educate our staff, customers and stakeholders along the way in the hope that we can have some sort of White Feather environmental ripple effect.
We continuously look at all aspects of our business and consider ways in which can develop, adapt and change what we do for the better. This has involved a lot of work and a lot of learning!
Let’s start by talking about some of the recent changes we’ve made and initiatives we’ve introduced which we are super proud of:
- The introduction of Re:Water at all of our sites. Our branded Re:Water bottles are made from recycled aluminium, are easier to recycle than plastic bottles and can be re-used time and time again. Last year we sold 27,197 plastic water bottles from our Bath Spa Railway Station site alone – a stat which we were not okay with! Check out our recent blog on this big shift to find out more.
- We recycle our coffee grounds and encourage our customers to take them home and use them for all number of purposes. Find out more by clicking here.
- We are committed to sourcing locally where possible, and even have different suppliers for different sites where possible to ensure that we are doing our bit to minimise our carbon footprint. However, it’s not just about finding suppliers that are on our doorstep – we always do our background checks to ensure that our suppliers are on the same wavelength where the environment is concerned. For example – we’ve recently teamed up with Exmoor Tea who have some great initiatives with an environmental focus. We love that they enable us to send back used packaging to be reused for future orders and, as you may well have figured by now, we’re big believers in “reuse” being the best thing that we can all commit to for the good of our planet.
So, that’s a little bit about some of the things we’ve done up until now, but this is an ongoing project for us. There’s always something we can be doing better for the good of our environment, and we’ve got some pretty big projects lined up which we’ve just started to dip our toe in the water with, so first and foremost…let’s talk about cups!
You may have noticed that the majority of disposable cups you get given at coffee shops are classed as “compostable”, but did you know that many of these are only compostable if they are composted in a certain way, and are not recyclable via your home food bin or paper/card recycling bin? In fact – the majority of take away cups, lids, boxes, bags etc. aren’t recyclable in any way other than through commercial composting (if that) which requires a specific collection. In fact, by putting them in your home recycling, you only seek to contaminate that recycling. How many people out there have done just that?!
There is a light at the end of the tunnel though. We’re just at the entrance of the tunnel and are currently in conversation with a number of suppliers who can provide us with cups and lids which can be disposed of in general recycling and home food waste bins. But, just to give you an insight in to the depths we’re delving to on this, we’ve already had to rule out one supplier as they can only source 6oz (flat white) cups from China – yes, they can be recycled, but have to be shipped from China…we’ll let you do the maths on that one!
It really is a minefield, but we hope that by doing the legwork now, we can help to educate, not only our own customers and employees, but also help to guide other coffee shops on the tweaks that they can make in order to really make a difference. In the meantime however – keep bringing in those reusable cups with you!
One other project which we’re super excited to be embarking on, but can’t say too much about right now, is switching to a regenerative milk supplier. Wondering what the heck we’re talking about? Well, if you’ve seen anything of the recent series of Clarkson’s Farm, you’ll have heard of the process of regenerative farming (if you haven’t yet seen it you have no idea what you’re missing out on!) The positive impacts that this can, and will, have on our environment are phenomenal, and we’re super excited to be able to play our part in spreading the regenerative love. Stay tuned, as there will be so much more to come on this, we can’t wait to roll out this major change in all of our sites!
So, there you have it, a brief update on some of the bits and bobs that we do at White Feather to put a little caring arm around our beautiful planet and preserve it for generations to come. We hope that this will give you the chance to take a step back and think about all of the little things that you can do to make a difference. We are constantly on a journey with our environmental credentials, and we are constantly learning. Stay tuned, come along on the ride with us, and you may discover a whole heap of tweaks and changes that you can make to really make a difference!
