Like 80% of the UK population, I love to drink coffee all along my day. However, lately, I realised that coffee as a huge impact on human rights and pollution but that ethical coffee exists.Coffee has also a huge impact on waste. In fact, a third of the UK household own a coffee machine that requires pods and drink at least two cups of coffee per day from it. Coffee pods are actually not the “worst “for the environment. Coffee is mainly pollutant because of its production.
In this article, we will talk about ethical coffee. Go at the end of the article, if you want to watch the video of “Our Changing Climate” on the true cost of coffee and find 5 ethical coffee brands from the UK.
Jump to the coffee brands:
- Balance Coffee: A London house created during the pandemic.
- Blue coffee box: A family run business offering you the best plastic free ethical coffee subscription.
- Alpaca coffee: From South America to the UK, Victoria and her team find the tastiest coffee to satisfy your mornings.
- Pact Coffee: an ethical coffee subscription with several choices right to your door steps.
- Volcano coffee shops: South London based ethical coffee specialist.
Does ethical coffee exist?
Coffee is nowadays not anymore eco-friendly. People drink more and more coffee in their daily life and companies need to satisfy their needs. For that, they increase the production and crops of coffee beans. However, this is leading to more pesticide usage, more land treated and more water contaminated by producing twice as much coffee. Alf Hill, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Bath, looked at the coffee from its production to the drink and showed that today’s coffee is not sustainable due to the over-production, over competition and over consumption.
According to Halo magazine, 39000 capsules are produced every minute while 29000 ending up in landfields.
I decided, to be the clearest possible, to review coffee according to the three pillars of sustainability:
Environmental:
According to the International Coffee Organization, 12 millions of coffee bags (60kg) are imported each month ( before COVID 19). Since 2016/2017, in the world, the consumption increased by 2.2%. Interestingly enough, less people drink coffee however the people who do drink coffee drink more per day. To be able to produce this amount of coffee, the production needs to be the most efficient possible. Factories need to ensure that the number of coffee beans available are all viable. To do so, they increased the amount of pesticide usage. This leads to two main issues: health issues in the workers and pollution of the water, the soil and the air.
For the health issue, as per the Agricultural Chemicals and Consumer Health, there is no worries to have as you never eat the coffee bean raw. The coffee bean is going through a process where the bean is roasted at 400°F and boiled. So whatever pesticide used the chance that you actually ingest it is close to 0%.
However, those pesticides have an impact on the lands used to grow the coffee. They go directly through the soil and impact the water, the soil, the air but also the population (for example by drinking the water). This article, from coffee and conservation, shows all the different types of pesticides uses and the impact it has on the flora and the fauna around.
The coffee pod: sadly enough, coffee pods are most of the time, not environmental friendly. Nespresso, for example, create their pods mainly from raw material. They have a recycle process put in place but that implies that people need to go back to the shop to recycle their pods. Sadly enough, people still put them in their trash leading to field waste. But today, thanks to amazing creation, it exists pods that are reusable or even able to be directly put into your compost.
Economic:
Coffee is mainly produced in countries close to the equator. This is where the climate is most appropriate for its growth. According to perfectdailygrind and its talk with Daniele Giovannucci, years ago, coffee production helped with economic and social sustainability. People, working around the production coffee areas, were paid a good wage and able to pay for education and health. However, nowadays due to the increase in demand and hence production while keeping a low cost, the coffee industry is tougher than ever, with low wages, more pesticide use leading to more health issues. Companies only see the short term plan and want to satisfy consumer and make money without really thinking of the workers behind it.
Social:
As per our article on sustainability: the only way to achieve a complete sustainable circle is to add the impact it has on humans. Nowadays due to the economic impact of the company, coffee workers are not able to be paid an average minimum wage, develop their education or respond to their basic health issues.
Here is a video that talks in detail about ethical coffee:
There are, today, a lot of companies that try to change the approach to coffee to offer not only a certified organic coffee but also compostable pods and more.
5 ethical coffee brands:
Balance Coffee:
Blue coffee box:
Alpaca coffee:
Be careful when you buy your coffee to review the brand’s practices regarding human rights
I hope this article replied to your question. I would love to know your thoughts on the coffee industry and what coffee do you drink! Do not forget to follow us on Instagram.
