At Nossa Familia we are continually looking for ways to create a more sustainable coffee supply chain. From ethical sourcing to responsible roasting and cafe practices, our goal is to create a positive and sustainable future for our family, origin partners, community, and business overall.
Carbon emissions have become a major issue globally, with smaller third world countries, including our coffee origins, being disproportionally affected. As a US-based coffee company, Nossa Familia recognizes the urgency to reduce our carbon footprint and contribute to global efforts to combat climate change.
Coffee is a commodity that is deeply affected and at risk from extinction due to climate change, and while coffee farmers unfairly take the brunt of this volatility, it is our responsibility to do everything within our power to minimize our contribution to rising emissions.
From the time green coffee arrives at the Nossa Familia roastery to the moment our coffee is delivered and served in our cafes, we continually seek out innovative ways to minimize our carbon footprint and optimize our processes for a more circular economy.
Annually, energy efficiency initiatives at the roastery reduce an estimated 105 tCO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere.
To put this into perspective, the amount of CO2 saved is equivalent to 23.4 gas powered passenger cars driven for one year or 20.5 homes electricity use for one year.
*The estimated emissions saved annually is based on actual 2022 roasting and renewable energy savings in addition to estimated savings of new energy efficient lighting and the conversion to an all electric delivery fleet put into place in the spring of 2022.
We purchase 100% renewable energy from Portland General Electric to power our roastery operations and delivery fleet.
In 2022 we purchased 13,205 kWh of renewable energy, keeping 9.36 tCO2 from entering the air.
In 2022 we installed energy-efficient LED lighting to reduce our lighting energy output by 62%. This was a $6,135 project to improve lighting and reduce energy use in our 16,000 Square Foot roastery space. LED lighting is estimated to save 4,636 kwh per year in energy and 3.29 tC02.
Energy-efficient, LED lighting is estimated to reduce our lighting energy consumption by 62% per year.
Our biggest carbon emissions savings comes from roasting all of our coffee on Loring Smart Roast machines, the most environmentally-friendly commercial roasters available. Loring roasters use 80% less energy and emit 80% less emissions than a comparable standard roaster, and the recycling of hot air from the roaster drum eliminates the need for an afterburner. In 2022, roasting on the Loring reduced our emissions by 86.08 metric tons of CO2.
In the spring of 2022, Nossa Familia rolled out an all-electric, zero-emissions delivery fleet fully charged by the 100% renewable energy we purchase for our roastery.
Having an E.V. delivery fleet is estimated to save 650 gallons of diesel per year, reducing emissions by 6.58 metric tons of C02.
Sustainable Commuting Perks
We work to minimize our material waste by:
From the roastery, we work to reduce the amount of waste we generate by:
- delivering coffee in durable, reusable containers to our cafes and wholesale clients;
- using boxes made with recycled content that are 100% recyclable;
- purchasing coffee bags that are recyclable and made of renewable materials;
- reusing boxes and packaging materials we receive whenever possible;
- donating burlap sacks to local community partners and gardens;
- giving away shipping pallets and grain-pro agricultural bags;
- and donating unsold coffee to local nonprofits.
OUR ZERO WASTE CAFE INITIATIVE
Reducing Single-Use Cups
To reduce the amount of single-use, disposable cup waste generated at our cafes we pioneered a Zero Waste program where we offer a 25-cent discount for bringing your own reusable mug, and we charge 25-cents for choosing a disposable to-go cup. When we introduced the to-go cup upcharge on Earth Day in 2019, we saw a significant reduction in the number of to-go cups, as well as a dramatic increase in customers choosing to bring their own mugs due to the environmental initiative.
CHALLENGES: While we have made progress in reducing single-use cups in our cafes, we have not seen as much improvement as we had hoped to see by April of 2023. The number of single-use cups diverted from the landfill remained strong at our cafes until the pandemic put our program on hold in March 2020. Our cafe cup waste initiative was renewed in August 2021, but unfortunately, there is significantly more disposable to-go cup usage today than there was before the pandemic. In response to this, we are committed to renewing our efforts and planning campaigns to educate and motivate people to move away from single-use, disposable cups again.
We're proud to use our coffee as a platform to give back to the community. Since our inception in 2004, through the Nossa Familia Giveback Program, we've contributed over $600,000 in cash and in-kind to nonprofits and charitable causes supporting communities, youth, and the environment.
Full Cycle is Nossa Familia's signature blend and one of three main coffees in our giveback program. Since 2015, we've been proud to donate .50-cents of every bag of Full Cycle purchased to nonprofits working to make the world a better place for everyone through bicycles.
Staff Volunteering + Pro-Bono Time
Nossa Familia encourages volunteering as a way to team build, strengthen community, and provide opportunity for personal growth for employees. To help enable our employees to volunteer in the community, we offer 16 hours of paid volunteer time annually to all permanent employees. We organize staff volunteer opportunities and offer flexibility in scheduling to allow our employees to volunteer in the community. Many of the community projects Nossa Familia’s team has contributed to have supported local and regional nonprofits dedicated to environmental causes such as Friends of Trees, Solv, NW Trail Alliance and Community Cycling Center.
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