This year’s Edinburgh Coffee Festival is going zero waste. Instead of producing a mountain of disposable empties, it’s switching to reusable cups and compostable packaging.
Alice Pritchard
Tue 10 Oct 2017
This Saturday over 3,000 coffee addicts will flock to the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh for their caffeine fix - there’s not just coffee, but cocktails, food and artisan hot chocolates for those not indulging in the brown stuff.
The Edinburgh Coffee Festival is the first UK coffee festival to go zero waste, in order to make coffee lovers think how they can reduce their waste from their daily caffeine stops. British coffee lovers get through seven million coffee cups a day and only 1% can be recycled.
This third installation of the annual event has moved to a larger venue and will use plant based containers and packaging which are biodegradable, it will give visitors 40% off a SmartCup reusable coffee cup and all of its food waste will be taken for composting and turned into high grade horticultural compost.
You might not take any rubbish from the festival but you’ll be bursting with ideas - there are workshops on everything from how to start telling the difference between coffee roasts to setting up your own coffee shop. Plus there are talks on closing the loop between coffee cups and compost, supporting sustainable coffee growers and special sessions with different coffee roasters.
The festival also supports Mercy Corps - an Edinburgh-based charity that works on some of the world’s toughest challenges. Mercy Corps works with coffee farmers to help them build more sustainable livelihoods. In Colombia, one of their initiatives strengthens the autonomy and economic empowerment of 1,800 rural female coffee farmers in Southern Cauca.
Want a taste of the future of coffee? The Edinburgh Coffee Festival is on Saturday 14 October. Get your tickets here.
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