Posted by: Christie Boivin

Stone Creek Coffee has recently been awarded the 2009 Ethical Business Leadership Award for Environmental Stewardship from the School of Business and Legal Studies at Concordia University. Here are some of our initiatives that we have been recognized for:

• Ethical:
-Socially Responsible Coffee Certification System
-A Fair Trade licensed roaster
-Buying Direct- establishing direct relationships with farms
-Supporting the Centro Rural Educafé school in Brazil
-Donating coffee to the community to non-profits to support their cause.
-Offering coffee education to our customers and staff
-Our goal is to purchase and sell 100% Socially Responsible coffees by the year 2010.

• Environmental:
-Encouraging our customers to reuse our resealable half, one and five pound bags when they purchase more of our coffee by offering discounts of up to $1.00.
-Recycling 100% at the stores and factory
-No Waste brewing program for wholesale customers
-Compostable Greenware cups
-Working with farmers who practice sustainable farming methods
-Compost Coffee project in stores- free grounds for any customer
- Giving coffee grounds and roaster chaff to local farmers and gardeners their soil.
-Using recycled-30% post consumer material for catalog printing
-Using reclaimed materials in building and architecture of stores and factory
-Choosing to be locally-focused: deliveries only within a 45 mile radius of the Stone Creek Factory in Downtown Milwaukee
-In November of 2004, we installed an afterburner unit on our primary 60-kilo drum roaster, minimizing our roaster's release of smoke and air pollutants
-Offering a 15 cent discount to customers who bring in their own travel mug for a drink
-Sourcing local vendors for projects and products when possible

It is our commitment to constantly push ourselves to become more ethically and environmentally conscious with all of the decisions we make. Thank you to Concordia University for recognizing our efforts and practices!