How we can be more sustainable in 2019

How we can be more sustainable in 2019 as a business and individual. In The Coffee Lounge, we are always striving to reduce our carbon footprint and look after the beautiful environment in which we work.

Last year we set ourselves a goal of reducing what we sent to landfill. We established various initiatives, including offering our freshly made sandwiches and pastries at half price after 2 PM. We also repackage our coffee grounds and give them away for free to gardeners and allotment enthusiasts!

Although we use a more sustainable takeaway coffee cup, we also encourage our customers to bring their own reusable cups by offering a 20p discount every time they do. They could even get a free coffee with the purchase of a reusable cup from our retail section. Last year we saved 660 takeaway cups from landfill this way and we hope to increase that this year!

We apply the mantra, reduce, reuse and recycle to every aspect of our operation. This includes the packaging that fills our hamper boxes. Inevitably we receive a lot of bubble wrap and inflated plastic in our supplies, we re-use this to fill our own parcels and encourage the recipient to do the same. Last year we spent £0 on parcel fillers.

It is now pretty widely recognised that a reduction in meat consumption is one of the key elements in caring for our environment. We always make sure that we have vegan and vegetarian options available and will be looking to expand those in 2019.