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Sustainability means ‘the capacity to endure’.
Here a Mean Bean, we seek to implement that principle into our business. This doesn’t just mean environmentally, but socially too. As well as attempting to become the best we can be in terms of environmentally, economically and socially, we also seek to go above and beyond within our community and help to build a bright future in every sense.
Below are some of the projects and activities both Mean Bean as a business, and their employees are up to. This all falls under our new initiative to be the best we can be, as Mean Bean Goes Green.
GREEN FOR MICRO
As part of our attempt to become a more sustainable business, our first step was to get help leading us down the right path. For this, we contacted our Local Enterprise Office (LEO) and got accepted to take part in Green for Micro. This partnered us with Flannery Nagel Environmental Ltd. In order to create an action plan of how to proceed. Together we reviewed how we operate and what we can do in order to improve ourselves environmentally, economically and socially.
OUR GROUNDS
Being a coffee business, naturally, one of our biggest waste products is our used coffee grounds, or coffee pucks. There are many different uses for these used grinds, such as exfoliating, scrubbing pots and pans or even removing fleas from your pet. The biggest use for coffee pucks, however, is undoubtably in gardening.
Most soil does not contain the essential nutrients needed for optimal plant growth. Also, as plants grow, they absorb nutrients from the soil, ultimately leaving it depleted. Thus, most gardens need to be fertilized to ensure that plants have the nourishment they need to survive.
Coffee grounds contain several key minerals for plant growth — nitrogen, calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium and chromium. They may also help absorb heavy metals that can contaminate soil. What’s more, coffee grounds help attract worms, which are great for your garden.
For this reason, we have decided that the best use for our used coffee grounds is to donate them to a local garden centre that can use them in order to help fertilize their produce.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
One of the largest movements in terms of sustainability in last few years has been energy efficiency. This involves minimizing energy usage, which is something that we strive to achieve. We have already switched to energy efficient lights and have a strict regime when it comes to having lights and equipment on. This allows us to minimize the amount of energy we use daily.
COMMUNITY EFFORTS
When it comes to the Waterford community, our employees strive to get involved and partake in as much as they can, if you want to read up on some of their current and upcoming plans click here
