Green Washing and the Coffee Industry

Recently people have become more and more conscious of what they put into their bodies and where it comes from. An unprecedented amount of information is now readily available to most Americans with the advent of the Internet. This has resulted in a great increase in transparency of the many aspects of imported products. Consequently, programs have been established to help ensure that these products are produced in more ethical and humane ways. To many Americans, the Fair Trade labeled bags of coffee they purchase that give them the energy they need to go about their day in addition to being a socially conscious decision but to many it is a means for survival and an escape from a cycle of debt that traps many similar non-Fair Trade growers generation after generation

Starbucks had been rank as one of the World’s most principled companies around the world (Ethisphere, 2013). As the people are holding the corporation to the highest ethical and social responsibility, these are becoming the expectation of their consumers. Having all these responsibilities in mind, Starbucks is striving to enact its own Corporate Social Responsibility, guidelines for bettering stakeholders in its communities (Starbucks, 2013). Today the company not only focusing on the communities they are operating, but trying to make a huge impact globally. By doing so they are working with Non-governmental organization. Starbucks had been focusing on social responsibility since in 2009; one of the areas the company had been focusing is the Fair-Trade coffee selling. (Reis, 2009).

Coffee is one of the most popular beverages on the planet. According to a rough estimate, nearly 400 to 500 billion coffee cups are consumed each year. Astonished? Well, it’s only one of many truly amazing coffee facts.

According to Lyon, Bezaury, & Mutersbaugh (2010), Fair-trade is a “process which helps improve the well-being and economic stability of disempowered farmers, by using certified commodity-chains to foster development”. For the KHC company, Fair-trade is essential because they want to provide and endorse exceptional coffee beans that they are proud to use; that means, “using coffee that is good and fair for both our coffee drinkers and for farmers are essential” (Kicking Horse Coffee, n.d.). In fact, over the past 20 years, Kicking Horse won numerous awards in many categories, including Canada’s Fastest- Growing Companies, Canada’s Top Women Entrepreneurs, Canada's Favourite Fair-trade Product and number 15 Best Workplace in Canada (Kicking Horse Coffee, n.d.).

Approximately eighty percent of caffeine is consumed in the form of coffee, and in the United States we average about two cups of coffee per day. More than 150 million Americans drink coffee on a daily basis (Vantal). Some people can use coffee as a scapegoat for instance, “I can not work properly without my coffee in the morning. ” I had went to my local and asked out of curiousty how many drinks do they serve, and their response was about six hundred to seven hundred beverages, but locations do vary.

Additionally, a disposable cup is often served with a styrene lid and a holder, both of which may be small but quickly add to a greater carbon footprint. (Borg) Buying a daily cup of coffee in a disposable cup creates 23 pounds of waste a year that could easily be avoided by having customers bring their own cup (Borg). Furthermore, disposable cups vary in environmental impact. According to the Environmental Protection agency, Styrofoam has no biodegradable properties and will never decompose. (Spitzer) This means a cup in the landfill will exist in 500 years much as it does today. Most paper cups are lined with a plastic resin to keep beverages warm, however this prevents the ability to recycle them. Although Starbucks’ cups are 10% recyclable, the FDA has strict guidelines around used material in conjunction with hot liquids resulting in most cups requiring virgin paper, (i.e. trees), for manufacturing, that are bleached and chemically treated. Based on research by the Environmental Defense Fund regarding the production and shipping of coffee cups, 7 trillion BTU’s of energy are used, that which could power 77 thousand homes, 6 billion gallons of water are used which could fill 9000 Olympic sized pools, and 4 billion pounds of C02 released into the

The acceptance of disposable paper coffee cups and their plastic lids as recycling marked a major milestone in these sustainability programs. Prior to this change, Western produced 12,000 disposable coffee cups on campus per day, with all 12,000 ending up in the landfill [3]. Following

Have you ever bought a cup of coffee and wondered what your cup is made out of? If you haven’t, well you should! Countless of cups are made out of non eco friendly materials which can end up damaging the environment. In an article called “Get The Facts” by Ashley Campbell, it states “ Americans throw away 25 billion styrofoam coffee cups every year.” this is a huge concern because majority of styrofoam cups aren’t recyclable and will end up on landfills for over 500 years.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) started as a small café in Waitsfield, Vermont in the year of 1981. It was in 1993 that the company went public and acquired the early phase of Keurig Incorporated Inc, and then completed the acquisition in 2006. (Unknown.( 2004). Gmcr.Retrieved from http://www.gmcr.com/about-GMCR.html) Once these two companies combined it made the way we drink beverages different than ever before in both the home and office. According to GMCR’s website “Today, GMCR is recognized as a leader in specialty coffee and coffee makers, and acknowledged for its award-winning coffees, innovative brewing technology, and environmentally and socially responsible business practices.” ((Unknown.( 2004).

Mexico is one of the world's largest producers of coffee with over 45 Fair Trade coffee producers, the second largest number of producers in Latin America, which makes it one of the biggest centers of Fair Trade (Kilpatrick 2013, 68). For those in the industrialized north, Fair Trade is a way for consumers to identify where products originate, allowing people to make choices that have positive impacts on the world. For producers living Mexico, Fair Trade not only provides social benefits, but also brings many environmental benefits, as these two aspects are often tied together. Through the examination of both the environmental and social gains, this paper will argue that Fair Trade coffee production in Mexico is having a positive impact on both small scale producers, and on the communities as a

As said by Cassandra Clare, “As long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?” To many, coffee makes the world go round. Like clockwork, they wake up and start their day effortlessly with a cup of coffee, seeing it more as a way of life than anything else. It starts their day and probably, more likely than not, make them fairly pleasant to be around, but many don’t realize how bad things really are. Around the world, two billion cups of coffee are consumed each day.

Today, coffee has become the most popular beverage consumed in North America. Many coffee shops have been built, such as Starbucks, Panthers coffee, which are inflating the economy. Coffee is so much

Imaging if there was no more coffee in this world, how would you feel? Nowadays, coffee becomes an important part of people’s life. People who often work overtime, they drink coffee because caffeine can make you awake; people who have to wake up early in the morning, they drink coffee because instead of making breakfast, coffee is more convenient; people drink coffee during the free time, because it also tastes good.

Fair Trade Coffee Fair Trade promotes socially and environmentally sustainable techniques and long-term relationships between producers, traders and consumers The world coffee industry is in crisis. A flood of cheap, lower-quality coffee beans have pushed world market prices down to a 30-year low. Many now earn less for their crop than it cost them to grow. Many coffee farmers around the world receive market payments that are lower than the costs of production, forcing them into a cycle of poverty and debtWithout urgent action, 25 million coffee growers' face ruin.

Starbucks inbound logistics comprises of the firm’s quality control specialist in selecting top-quality Arabia coffee beans from suppliers that maintain a sustainable approach. Starbucks supports ethical sourcing by operating “responsible purchasing practices, farmer support…” (Starbucks, 2016) also corporate social responsibility (CSR). Additionally, their tactic is utilizing the “Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices” (Starbucks, 2016), wherein this approach is the first set of sustainability benchmarks in the coffee industry and is certified by third-party logistics professionals. The C.A.F.E. Practices has assisted Starbucks in relation to generating a “long-term supply of high-quality coffee” (Starbucks, 2016) and influencing the lives of the farmers and their communities. Furthermore, Starbucks utilizes economies of scales in their inbound logistics activities by developing outstanding supply chain procedures by using C.A.F.E. and also includes collaborating internationally with managers discussing strategic alliances through suppliers for their products. Starbucks have recently