Other Eco-Efforts
SCAA SUSTAINABILITY AWARD The Specialty Coffee Association of America awarded Portland Roasting its Annual Sustainability Award in 2005 for its Farm Friendly Direct™ Program. SCAA recognizes companies worldwide that create innovative projects to expand sustainability within the coffee world while inspiring others to do the same. This award validated our Farm Friendly Direct™ program as an alternative to fair trade, and recognized Portland Roasting as a pioneer of this trend within the specialty coffee community.
PORTLAND COMPOSTS! And we do too. We have joined the Office of Sustainable Development’s Portland Composts! Program and each week we send our organic materials to the curb – coffee grains, bean husks, food waste, napkins, and paper cups – so they can be made into mulch. We fill 16 rolling bins (60 gallons) monthly for an estimated weight diverted of 1,000 pounds per month. Additionally, we divert another 600 pounds of office paper, 250 pounds of plastic, metal and glass, and another 500 pounds of cardboard and shrink-wrap by leaving it at the curb. We like the idea of closing the waste loop.
RECYCLING AND REUSE In addition to composting, we recycle everything we can-- cans, bottles, plastic, office paper and cardboard. We send off about 600 pounds per month of office paper, 250 pounds of plastic, metal and glass and another 500 pounds of cardboard and shrink-wrap to the recycling bins monthly.
CUSTOMER WASTE REDUCTION Beyond our efforts in our office, we strive to provide assistance and products to our customers that will reduce their waste as well. All of the bulk coffee we sell to groceries is now placed in five-pound compostable bags, along with the consumer bulk bags that are 100 percent compostable. We help out-of-city customers find their local composting services, and provide waste reduction analysis when requested. We recently guided the Doubletree Hotel at Lloyd Center toward exchanging the 2,000 non-recyclable packaging bags for compostable bulk bags, diverting hundreds of bags weekly out of the trash bin.
RECYCLEWORKS We are a certified RecycleWorks Business. RecycleWorks businesses have a commitment to sustainability through various company practices. By meeting a series of eco-related requirements such as having a sustainability coordinator or green team; engaging in at least six activities to prevent waste, incorporating a purchasing program for recycled content products – companies can earn certification in the program. Visit the Portland Office of Sustainable Development for more information.
CARBON NEUTRAL We are currently working with Trees for the Future to become a carbon neutral company. By committing to the purchase and planting of 16,900 trees, we will offset all of our greenhouse gas emissions for 2008.
RENEWABLE ENERGY We purchased more than 75,000 kilowatts of Wind Power from PGE this past year.
BIODIESEL One of our two delivery vehicles runs on biodiesel fuel, so we cut back on our fossil fuel consumption. All new vehicle purchases will be biodiesel-powered.
POST-CONSUMER OFFICE MATERIALS Our office supplies -- from copy paper to file folders and business cards -- are printed on a minimum of 80%-post-consumer content paper. All of our shipping materials are sourced from 100% post-consumer materials as well.
EARTH FRIENDLY PRODUCTS Environmentally friendly cleaning products are used company-wide, as well as 100% recycled toiletry papers.
CERTIFIED ORGANIC Portland Roasting is recognized by the National Organic Program (NOP) as a “Certified Organic” coffee roasting facility.
ON THE HORIZON When we renovated the building in 2005, we incorporated many recycled materials and added sky lighting to reduce dependence on electrical light. We stay on the lookout for other energy efficient measures that we can adopt. We are exploring the idea of putting in a roof garden and will replace all warehouse lighting with energy-efficient options by mid-2008.
