Company Practices & Environment

Together we can act to better the environment we share.

Waste Reduction

On the heels of our 2005 CRD EcoStar award, we have challenged ourselves to better our own environmental initiatives. Our focuses in 2007 have been:

Trade Show Waste

In the fall of 2007, we started to use biodegradable disposal coffee cups at large events and trade shows—these same cups will shortly be custom printed and sold to our café accounts early in 2008. Along with this initiative, we set. and thus far have met, a goal of zero waste to landfills  when managing shows and events.

Facility Waste

In our facility, staff think critically about how to alter our purchasing practices so as to further eliminate waste. Our goal is to be conscientious of the complete life cycle of the products we purchase. To accomplish this, we take into account manufacturing practices, distance traveled, composition of the material, and possibilities for recycling. On a weekly basis, our facility generates less than one grocery bag of garbage. To accomplish this low waste goal, we use extensive composting and maintain 12 different streams for recycling including: metal, soft plastic, hard plastic, styrofoam, food contaminated Styrofoam, packing peanuts, gable top cartons, foil products, paper, cardboard, glass and refundable drink containers.

Post Consumer Reclamation

In 2007, we started to welcome the return of empty coffee packages so that we could have them recycled. We have now done the research and are implementing a plan to organize 100 reclaim sites for our empty coffee packages in major centers through BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. The packages will be returned to our facility and then, via a local recycling partner, taken to a Waste to Energy facility in Greater Vancouver.

Staff & the Environment

Green Field Trips

Thanks to staff enthusiasm, an effort was made in 2007 to learn more about our connection to our environment. A company green team was formed and coordinated field trips and demonstrations about recycling (visit to Metro Waste), and water (visit to CRD Wastewater treatment plant & watershed demo by Stream-keepers).

Green Transportation

The Level Ground team stepped up to the Bike to Work Week challenge with 8 staff commuting by bike—a big commitment for a peninsula-based company with staff who largely reside more than 20km away. On an on-going basis, staff who regularly cycle, bus or carpool to work are paid a monthly green transportation bonus.

Greening our Facility

We are scheduled to transition to a new facility in February 2008. In the process of the planning and construction we have welcomed input from building consultants and all of our staff regarding how to make it the greenest facility possible. Features include a water permeable parking lot, extensive use of skylights, low flow water utilities and low voltage compact fluorescent lighting. The building will also be a certified organic food processing facility.

Environmentally Friendly Packaging

EnviroTotes

We are now in our third year of selling EnviroTotes, reusable containers that hold 5 lbs of coffee with no packaging to throw away. When we deliver full EnviroTotes to a customer we pick up the empty ones from the previous delivery. In 2007 this component of our business has grown by almost 80% and will result in 40,000 lbs of our Direct Fair Trade coffee being sold locally without any packaging thrown away.

Recycling Packaging

Coffee

Separate the poly plastic liner from the foil and recycle it under the #4 category or return your package to a Ten Thousand Villages store or other Reclamation Station near you, and have the package reclaimed by Level Ground Trading.

Frutos and Panela

These packages are recognized as low density polyethylene (LDP) and can be recycled under the #4 category.