Turn Your Bags To Steam With Ethical Bean’s Bag-To-Energy Program

Ethical Bean Coffee launches a new program on Monday, March 22nd that will reduce the number of coffee bags in landfills and will put a hot cup of coffee into the hands of consumers in return.

Coffee lovers are invited to bring their empty coffee bags to the Ethical Bean Xpress
drop-boxes located at the Granville Skytrain station and Commercial Skytrain station, or
to the Ethical Bean Café and roasting facility at 1315 Kootenay Street in East Vancouver.
Those who bring in 5 bags or more at a time will receive an extra treat: a cup of fresh
drip coffee on the house. Additionally, all those who write their name and email address
on the side of their bags before returning them will be entered each week into a draw for
a free pound of coffee. This program isn’t just limited to Vancouverites. Anyone across
Canada can mail their empty coffee bags, along with their name and email address, to
Ethical Bean Coffee, 1315 Kootenay Street, Vancouver, BC V5K 4Y3 and be entered into
the weekly draw.

All empty coffee bags brought to Ethical Bean will be turned into energy at the Waste to
Energy Facility (WTEF) in South Burnaby. Every year the WTEF turns roughly 280,000 tonnes of garbage into 900,000 tonnes of steam. The steam is then used to produce electricity. Ethical Bean’s new initiative will offer consumers the option of sending their bags to be converted into energy instead of a landfill.

Says Ethical Bean co-founder Lloyd Bernhardt, “Ethical Bean is committed to being just
and better, in everything that we do. That’s why we’re embarking upon a consumer
driven coffee bag return program and accepting all coffee bags – even those of our
competitors – and turning them from waste into energy.” All used coffee bags brought to
Ethical Bean will be transported to the WTEF facility in a hybrid vehicle and any carbon
created in the trip will be offset by carbon credits to Plug into Green Canada.

The program will rely heavily on the choices of consumers. Says Bernhardt, “we’ve been
working tirelessly for years to develop a more ecologically sound coffee bag. Once we
have a solution that safely protects the quality of our coffee and the hard work of
farmers that is more environmentally sound, we will introduce it. For the time being we
feel this is a better solution.”

Ethical Bean Xpress will be accepting coffee bags at their drop-boxes from 6:00AM to
6:00PM Monday to Friday, and 8:00AM to 4:00PM on Saturdays. The Ethical Bean Café
and Roastery will accept bags from 8:00AM to 5:00PM Monday to Friday.

About Ethical Bean
Ethical Bean Coffee Company roasts only 100% Fair Trade Certified and certified organic
shade grown coffees from around the world. Founded in 2003, the Vancouver, BC,
based company is committed to ensuring small-scale farmers receive a fair price for their efforts. Ethical Bean coffee is roasted in Vancouver in a 100% carbon neutral facility built to LEED CI standards. For more information visit www.ethicalbean.com