NEW YORK, U.S. – Driftaway Coffee, an online coffee subscription company and roaster, announces the launch of 100% compostable packaging, carbon-neutral shipping & operations and the launch of Coffee Stories as part of signing the Transparency Pledge. Founded in 2014 and living at the intersection of coffee and technology, Driftaway roasts coffee at Pulley Collective in Red Hook, Brooklyn, ships to home customers all over the world and delivers freshly roasted coffee that matches a consumers taste based on a personalization algorithm.
Rolling out this week, Driftaway Coffee announced the launch of new sustainability initiatives. With an eye towards coffee sustainability helping both people in coffee and the planet at large, Driftaway is launching compostable packaging, carbon-neutral operations and a new video series called Coffee Stories that includes sourcing transparency information as part of Driftaway being a signatory of the Transparency Pledge. This is building on existing transparency and sustainability initiatives like the Farmer Feedback and the Bean for Bean programs running at Driftaway since 2017. These programs share ratings and reviews with coffee farmers all over the world and contribute 5 cents per pound roasted to World Coffee Research (WCR).
Compostable Packaging
Driftaway becomes the first subscription roaster to have all elements of its packaging be plastic-free and compostable. After many months of research and trial, Driftaway created new custom packaging whereby every single element of the packaging can go into the commercial compost bin. This includes the pouch, label, postcards and other inserts, and the mailer. “We spend a lot of time considering each element in the packaging, and making every element compostable. If one of the elements was not, then it would end up in landfill, and we did not want that,” says Suyog Mody, one of the founders of Driftaway Coffee. Only the poly mailer supplied by the post office is made of plastic. “It’s not perfect, but it is a huge step in the right direction” says Mody.
Carbon-Neutral Shipping & Operations
Driftaway is carbon-neutral in its shipping and operations. With a footprint of 71 metric tons in Q1-Q3 2019, Driftaway is offsetting their emissions by contributing to the preservation of Alto Mayo forest in Peru where local communities are being trained to convert to coffee farmers and eco-entrepreneurs. “It’s a cause that we strongly believe in. Our goal is to measure and reduce our emissions as much as we can, and purchase offsets for what we do emit,” says Anu Menon, co-founder of Driftaway Coffee. As an eCommerce operation, over 70% of Driftaway’s emissions are from air shipping and they are working on switching to 100% ground shipping.
Coffee Stories & Transparency Pledge
Coffee Stories is a behind-the-scenes series of videos with Driftaway green buying, roasting and QC team members that tell the origin to roasting story of each coffee. “We source and roast 52 coffees in a year, and there is a ton of hard work involved not just on our end, but all over the supply chain,” says Mody. “Roasters get a large share of the credit from consumers when it comes to a cup of coffee. With Coffee Stories, we want to share with all coffee consumers all that we know about each of our coffees and to level the field a little bit in favor of the coffee farmers.” Coffee Stories includes information that is shared with Transparency Pledge that includes 50+ of the world’s leading coffee roasters, with a goal towards defining a better price for specialty coffee.
Who Is Driftaway Coffee?
Driftaway Coffee is a sustainability-focused coffee roaster, offering subscriptions and coffee gifts in an environmentally and socially conscious manner. Founded in 2014 and living at the intersection of coffee and technology, Driftaway Coffee roasts coffee in Red Hook, Brooklyn, shipping to customers all over the world at home and delivers freshly roasted coffee that matches a consumers taste.
