VANCOUVER, Wash., US – Pacific Cascade, who markets and sells the GreenDrop Recycling Stations, announces that Farmer Bros. Co. has chosen GreenDrop Stations to handle the diverting of its recyclable and compostable waste from landfills.
Farmer Brothers’ ultimate objective is to reach 100% landfill diversion by the year 2015, prolonging the lifecycle of resources while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The unique, market-leading GreenDrop Recycling Station was designed through multi-year efforts of the Portland Trail Blazers head office and the newly named Moda Center.
The arena’s landfill diversion rate increased from 38% in 2007 to over 90% in 2013, in part by replacing old-style garbage cans with GreenDrop Recycling Stations. GreenDrop Recycling Stations reduce landfill contributions by enabling Farmer Brothers employees to easily self-sort recyclable and compostable items.
Self-sorting reduces Farmer Brothers environmental footprint while minimizing waste hauling expenses and being fiscally responsible through sustainable operations.
Farmer Brothers took the time to look closely at its operations, discovering ways to increase recycling, repurposing, and composting, and to minimize the environmental impact of its coffees, teas, and spices.
“Our goal is to have zero waste bound for landfills by the end of 2015 through smart practices and innovation. We evaluated other containers, but GreenDrop was the best option for our recycling needs,” stated Sarah Beaubien, Director of Sustainability for Farmer Brothers.
In addition to the GreenDrop Recycling Stations diverting the composting and recycling waste streams, Farmer Brothers has developed programs to recycle an estimated 1,500,000 pounds of packaging machine waste from landfills each year.
Farmer Brothers receives over 500,000 pounds of fiber bags per year used for shipping green coffee. These bags are now being repurposed for weed control in reclamation projects, tools for local farmers harvesting fruits and vegetables, bag-and-burlap for tree plantings, and much more.
Most of these bags were once bound for landfills, but today there is a waiting list to extend the useful life of these bags. Another success has been taking at least 15,000 pounds per month of chaff from their Portland facility left over from coffee processing and selling this material to companies producing natural fertilizers.
“The GreenDrop Recycling Station and process innovations developed by our team help us progress toward zero landfill-bound waste and will help us meet our goal by 2015,” said Patrick Mitchell, Director of Operations for Farmer Brothers.
Lyle Peters, Pacific Cascade Corporation’s Director of Sales for the GreenDrop Stations, adds, “We are happy to be included in Farmer Brothers’ impressive goal of zero landfill waste. GreenDrop Recycling Stations are a perfect fit with their innovative programs and the Pacific Cascade team is proud to help them meet their goal.”
“Farmer Brothers is genuinely committed to waste reduction. They are actively working to increase recycling, composting and looking for new opportunities to reduce waste.
Waste Management is proud to be partnering with Farmer Brothers, and we look forward to continued success and helping them reach zero landfill waste,” says Trevor Kitchen, Major Account Manager for Waste Management who handles Farmer Brothers’ multiple waste stream hauling.
