CafédirectEnvironment » Cafédirect

How green is your coffee shop?

Posted by Cafédirect, May 22nd, 2012, Comments (0)

Do you own a café and want to make it greener? If so our newly launched EcoToolkit will help you find out what more you can do. When we first carried out a study to identify the environmental impact of our products; we were surprised to find out that … Read more

A storm in a coffee cup…

Posted by Cafédirect, May 14th, 2012, Comments (0)

We’re often reminded that climate change is one of the biggest challenges we face globally today. And yet sometimes we can get lost in the overwhelming scale of the problem. But, if like us, one of the highlights of your day is a great cup of coffee, then the challenges … Read more

Free energy-saving kit from Ecotricity

Posted by Emily, February 24th, 2012, Comments (0)

Did you know that a large part of the carbon footprint of a cup of our tea, coffee or cocoa is generated through the actual making of hot drinks? Whether that’s a kettle at home or a machine in a coffee shop, the energy used to prepare a cup … Read more

Partnership projects in Kenya

Posted by Cafedirect Producers Foundation, December 14th, 2011, Comments (0)

By Kady Murphy, Fundraising and Programme Assistant for the Cafédirect Producers’ Foundation Along with Kenny and Sylvia from the Cafédirect Producers’ Foundation (CPF) programmes team, I recently spent some time in Kenya visiting two of our smallholder tea partners, Kiegoi Tea Factory and Michimikuru Tea Company, both in the … Read more

Cafedirect at COP17

Posted by Cafédirect, December 9th, 2011, Comments (0)

By Wolfgang Weinmann, Head of Strategic Development at Cafedirect What’s the new buzzword around climate change for the agricultural sector? No, you won’t guess – its ‘Climate-smart agriculture’! That’s what was on everyone’s lips during my days at COP17, the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa. The … Read more

You, me and working trees – the International Year of Forests

Posted by Cafédirect, November 15th, 2011, Comments (0)

2011 is the United Nations’ International Year of Forests, and the World Agroforestry Centre is running a major campaign called BusyTrees to educate the public about the importance of agroforestry. We invited BusyTrees to write this guest post to let us know a little bit more about the project. What … Read more

Introducing the Cafedirect Foodservice Eco-Toolkit

Posted by Whitney, October 28th, 2011, Comments (0)

Since our first carbon footprint back in 2005, we’ve known that the carbon impact associated with consuming our products makes up the majority of the product’s footprint. Consumption is considered to be any activity related to eating or drinking a product such as kettle boiling. This is especially true with … Read more

Guest post from Cafedirect Producers’ Foundation

Posted by Cafédirect, October 3rd, 2011, Comments (0)

Today we have a guest post from Kenny at the Cafédirect Producers’ Foundation updating us on one of the projects at origin. As some of you may know, we not only pay growers a fair price for their crop (as per fairtrade regulations), but in addition, we also fund a programme of … Read more

Adapting to climate change in Peru

Posted by Whitney, March 17th, 2011, Comments (0)

In January, I travelled to the CEPICAFE coffee organisation in Piura, Peru. The first part of my visit focused on the reforestation project they are undertaking with their neighbours higher up in the Andes. The rest of the trip was to visit the coffee farmers themselves to see how … Read more

Do something funny for money!

Posted by Siobhan, February 4th, 2011, Comments (0)

Yesterday was the official launch of Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day campaign to get the nation to do something funny for money. This year’s campaign kicked off with supermodel Lara Stone recreating Marilyn Monroe’s iconic pose only with a Red Nose Day twist – this year’s brand new Red Noses – … Read more

Welcome to Choco!

Posted by Whitney, February 1st, 2011, Comments (0)

This week I visited the reforestation project that Cafédirect is supporting high up in the Sierra de Piura in Peru, near the village of Choco. Having worked with the project for over a year, and only met the partners on the ground via email or phone, it was amazing to … Read more

Musings for Energy Savings Week: How does your kettle boil?

Posted by Whitney, October 28th, 2010, Comments (2)

Welcome to day four of Energy Saving Week, sponsored by the UK’s Energy Saving Trust. As we’re all well aware by now, energy use is THE key source of carbon emissions that each of us is responsible for (see our carbon footprint if you want to know more!… Read more

The (not so colourful) rainbow of water footprints

Posted by Whitney, October 15th, 2010, Comments (1)

Welcome to Cafédirect’s Blog Action Day 2010 blog post. This year’s theme is WATER, so building on my July introduction to the topic, I’m digging deeper into the world of water footprints to share a few things I’ve learned that will hopefully help you understand the “embedded water” … Read more

Latest update on the continuing rains in Central America

Posted by Paul, October 13th, 2010, Comments (3)

You heard last week about the problems our producer partners in Central America are facing due to changes in rain patterns. Just to give you an idea of the scale of the change, in some areas of Veracruz, Mexico, the rains that fell from Hurricane Mathew during one weekend were … Read more

Update from the 2010 Central American Hurricane Season

Posted by Whitney, October 7th, 2010, Comments (1)

You may have heard about the ongoing severe weather in Central America over recent weeks. We’ve just had an update from Paul, who has been to visit some of our Latin American coffee partners recently. He reports that the region had expected a slight upswing in coffee production this … Read more

AdapCC and the MDGs

Posted by Whitney, September 22nd, 2010, Comments (1)

Sound like a funky band name? Lots of acronyms, I know, but they add up to come very exciting news for us. AdapCC? I’m a broken record when it comes to talking about this pioneering collaboration with four of our producer partners and GTZ to support small farmers to adapt … Read more

Organic coffee, tea and cocoa: Cafédirect’s spot between a rock and a hard place

Posted by Whitney, September 14th, 2010, Comments (2)

Welcome to the second week of Organic Fortnight, sponsored by the UK Soil Association, to encourage UK citizens to try organic products. I thought I’d give you some insight into some contradictory trends that make both growing and selling organic coffee difficult. So grab a cup of our … Read more

Beetroot brownies for Zero Waste Week

Posted by Siobhan, September 10th, 2010, Comments (2)

Today it’s my turn to share my tips on avoiding food waste for Zero Waste Week, under the theme of ‘Cooking for Victory’, so I thought I’d share some of the ways that I’ve been getting creative in the kitchen to use up all my veg. It all started recently … Read more

Harriett's tips on reducing food waste

Posted by Cafédirect, September 9th, 2010, Comments (0)

I live in a household made up of two adults, two minis and a cat, and we’ve been trying to consistently reduce our waste every week. We’ve managed to reduce our rubbish in half in the last few years as we’ve become more aware of what can be recycled, or … Read more

Kev's tips to cut down on food waste and energy use

Posted by Cafédirect, September 8th, 2010, Comments (0)

Today it’s Kevin’s turn to give his take on cutting down waste in the home….. “I love to cook and do so mainly from scratch. When in the supermarket one can often think a ready meal or pre cooked or pre prepared food is more convenient when actually preparing food … Read more

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