At Coinadrink our Corporate Social Responsibility plan is both advanced and flexible enough to adapt to new and impending legislation. We always monitor the efforts we make for the environment, our products and our people, and we take our responsibilities very seriously. Our team works hard to minimise our impact on the environment and you can always be sure that your refreshments are ethically sourced.
It starts at the beginning where we cherry pick our machines for quality, reliability and efficiency. Because of this, our equipment operates smoothly for years to come, thus minimising the risk of waste sooner than planned. All of our operators and engineers have their routes expertly planned to strike the perfect balance between speed and efficiency and they only carry equipment that is fundamental to their job. We have designated waste streams on site that all employees are required to use and all our vending equipment is appropriately discarded of at the end of life.
Contrary to common belief, it is not just used coffee cups that have been causing an unsightly blight on our environment. With over 70 million cups of coffee being enjoyed in the UK every day, this can also lead to coffee ground waste, to which there are hundreds of thousands of tonnes each year.
And with most of this waste ending up in landfill, greenhouse gases such as methane are released. This is up to 28 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide.
We are proud to now share our partnership with First Mile. First Mile have been recycling used coffee grounds from businesses since 2015, creating a truly circular solution by turning these grounds into biofuels, biochemicals and coffee logs – a high performance substitute for imported wood and coal.
First Mile provided empty tote boxes to businesses that can hold up to 40 litres of used coffee grounds, before being collected and taken to their facility in Cambridgeshire. Recycling collections can be made up to three times a day, seven days a week. Utilising the services of First Mile can save up to 80% of CO2 emissions if they were instead sent to landfill.
In a world that is dominated by multi-national organisations, smaller producers are often pushed to the side and forced to accept low prices for their products. Coinadrink is committed to supporting these producers and we specially choose our suppliers that share the same ethos. We believe in giving producers a fair deal and we promise to support ethical production and sustainable development. We are proud to say that many of the products in our vending machines are Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade certified, which means we are helping to protect both farmers and their farms. Recently, we also introduced rCUP to our Refreshment Shop, a 100% recyclable coffee cup made from used paper cups.
Our longevity and success can be attributed to the hard work and commitment of our team. We always invest in their potential to expand their knowledge and experience and we endeavour to pay our staff more than the National Living Wage. The fact that the average length of service stands at 13.2 years emphasises that we are doing something right. We were one of the first companies to hold the Investors in People accreditation and we have since been awarded the gold standard. Coinadrink also has a successful apprenticeship scheme in place and a number of our team have joined us from this route.
