The Buena Vista Roastery has in place its Carbon Reduction and Sequestration Initiatives for 2012
. We are progressing our Coffees For A Cause which is a program that will allow our customers to purchase our Fair Trade Organic coffee and put 10% of their purchase toward one of several causes / non-profits. We are working on increasing the marketing of this program in 2012. The non-profits that we are working with include The Africa Centre for Holistic Management, Slow Food USA, BALLE, Denver Street School, and Chaffee County Boys and Girls Club. We hope our efforts will raise the level of awareness of consumers that their purchases can and should have a greater impact.
The Buena Vista Roastery’s Carbon Reduction and Sequestration Initiatives, 2012:
- Continue Green Business Certification requisites and monitoring program modeled after Cuban sustainability program – in progress
- Carry out carbon footprint assessment on roasting, and conventional vs organic coffee production - 2012
- Replacement of equipment with EnergyStar and other energy reduction equipment - in progress
- Regular maintenance on all equipment to ensure proper airflow and optimum efficiency – in progress
- Investigate electric/wind trading options with Sangre de Cristo Electric Coop; convert to low wattage electricity – in progress
- Carry out waste generation assessment site-wide, initiate waste reduction practices accordingly – in progress
- Garden on site for vegetables, herbs, etc for bakery. Composting, worm bin and mushroom growing partnership – in progress
- Continue promotion and distribution regarding secondary uses for burlap sacs and chaff by-products – in progress
- Seek alternative Holistic Management support for business development and through marketing and sales efforts to incorporate terrestrial carbon sequestration options for coffee purchases – in progress
- Increase civic donations to agricultural related activities and other efforts focused on environmental stewardship, in addition to other charitable activities – in progress
- Expand our Coffees for a Cause program – in progress
Also: We are Organic and Fair Trade certified and strive to source beans from socially responsible farms when they can’t afford certification, we carry organic teas, we use only Simple Green as a cleaning product, we compost our coffee grounds and chaff, we encourage using mugs in the shop and are investigating compostable disposable cups, we use recycled paper in the printer, we recycle all plastics, cardboard, greyboard, etc, we don’t use packing peanuts and encourage our vendors to ship with alternative materials.
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