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TURN YOUR BAGS TO STEAM WITH ETHICAL BEAN
Bring your empty coffee bags to an EBX location or the Ethical Bean Café & Roastery as part of a new pilot project recycling initiative.

Ethical Bean Coffee launches a new recycling program on Monday, March 22nd that will reduce the number of coffee bags in landfills and will put a hot cup of coffee into the hands of the environmentally conscious in return.

Eco-conscious coffee lovers are invited to bring their empty coffee bags to the Ethical Bean Xpress drop-boxes located at the Granville Skytrain station and Commercial Skytrain station, or to the Ethical Bean Café and roasting facility at 1315 Kootenay Street in East Vancouver. Those who bring in 5 bags or more at a time will receive an extra treat:  a cup of fresh drip coffee on the house. Additionally, all recyclers who write their name and email address on the side of their bags before returning them will be entered each week into a draw for a free pound of coffee. This program isn’t just limited to Vancouverites. Anyone across Canada can mail their empty coffee bags, along with their name and email address, to Ethical Bean Coffee, 1315 Kootenay Street, Vancouver, BC V5K 4Y3 and be entered into the weekly draw.

All empty coffee bags brought to Ethical Bean will be turned into energy at the Waste to Energy Facility (WTEF) in South Burnaby. Every year the WTEF turns roughly 280,000 tonnes of garbage into 900,000 tonnes of steam. The steam is then used to produce electricity. Considering what a coffee loving community Vancouver is, Ethical Bean is certain that their new initiatives will make a difference.

Says Ethical Bean co-founder Lloyd Bernhardt, “Ethical Bean is committed to being just and better, in everything that we do. That’s why we’re embarking upon a consumer driven coffee bag recycling program and accepting all coffee bags – even those of our competitors – and turning them from waste into energy.” All used coffee bags brought to Ethical Bean will be transported to the WTEF facility in a hybrid vehicle and any carbon created in the trip will be offset by carbon credits to Plug into Green Canada.

The program will rely heavily on the help of eco-conscious consumers. Says Bernhardt, “we’ve been working tirelessly for years to develop a more ecologically sound coffee bag. Once we have a solution that safely protects the quality of our coffee and the hard work of farmers that is more environmentally sound, we will introduce it. For the time being we feel this is the best solution for our customers, and all environmentally aware coffee drinkers.”

Ethical Bean Xpress will be accepting coffee bags at their drop-boxes from 6:00AM to 6:00PM Monday to Friday, and 8:00AM to 4:00PM on Saturdays. The Ethical Bean Café and Roastery will accept bags from 8:00AM to 5:00PM Monday to Friday.