LONDON, UK — Just two months after winning the Blue Patch’s Global Impact Award, Bird & Wild have been awarded Best Buy in Ethical Consumer’s latest review into coffee.
Ethical Consumer is the UK’s leading ethical and environmental consumer magazine. They look at different products such as clothes, mobile phones or even bank accounts – and asses the companies which provide them. The company is then given a rating out of 20 based on their social, ethical and environmental records to help consumers to buy products which are better for the planet.
In the latest coffee review, Bird & Wild hit the top of the ratings table with a steamy 18 out of 20 for beans and ground coffee. This coffee has been shade-grown and is triply certified as Bird Friendly, Organic and Fairtrade to ensure that every cup brewed is environmentally-friendly.
Bird & Wild are also working in partnership with the RSPB and donate 6% of all sales to them.
Guy Wilmot, CEO of Bird & Wild Coffee said: “We’re delighted to have won Best Buy in this highly respected and rigorous publication. Bird & Wild really does focus and care about how coffee production affects ecosystems and biodiversity through our environmentally-friendly certifications, but also how our wildlife is faring closer to home in the UK through our partnership with the RSPB wildlife charity.”
Rebecca Porter, the RSPB’s Product & Licensing Manager said “Guy is extremely passionate about his bird-friendly coffee – as are we! It’s a testament to his hard work to have been given this award and is just one of the many reasons that this partnership has gone from strength to strength.”
Shade grown means that the coffee grows more slowly, requires less water and the need to use any invasive fertilizers or pesticides. This in turn supports greater biodiversity and ensures that the forest in which it’s grown sustains a healthy ecosystem.
Guy added: “This actually makes good business sense too. The one thing we hear time and again from the consumer events that we do is that the public really do care about the environment, yet there is a disconnect between consumer opinion and retailers who still mainly choose non-certified coffees to sell in their stores. We hope that retailers start to understand that sustainable business, when it’s properly communicated to the consumer, actually makes good business sense for the retailer.”
About Bird & Wild Coffee
The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Centre in the United States has developed the only 100% Organic and Shade Grown coffee certification in the world called Bird Friendly Certification. No other coffee guarantees that every bean is produced organically ensuring tropical ‘agroforests’ are preserved and migratory birds find a healthy haven when travelling from northern climes to farms producing beans throughout Central America.
Firstly, the coffee is certified Organic, which means managing a healthy soil base and applying no harmful pesticides that could otherwise run off into streams and rivers. This helps reduce the billions of pounds of noxious chemicals that are injected annually into natural ecosystems that support wildlife and communities.
Secondly, a variety of native shade trees are grown throughout the coffee plantation. The combination of foliage cover, tree height and animal diversity provides suitable migratory bird habitat while maintaining productive farms. Producers must be recertified every three years to ensure they continue to meet these requirements and can truly call themselves Bird Friendly.
Thirdly, the coffees are certified Fairtrade which ensures producers in developing countries are paid a fair price for their work, by companies in developed countries based on partnerships, which means that it’s great for wildlife and people alike.
Bird and Wild can currently be purchased at the RSPB online shop at www.rspbshop.org.uk, www.birdandwild.co.uk, Amazon, Ocado or at selected RSPB stores at retail locations in nature reserves across the UK.
Read more at https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/rspb-news/news/stories/bird-friendly-coffee-wins-ethical-award-top-spot/#1ZYzI4H5ffBV6C1B.99
