SOLUTIONS
In collaboration with the Oregon Coffee Board, Vigil worked with Nossa Familia Coffee to develop a cafe best practices guide to decrease CO2 emissions and prevent waste throughout the coffee production and consumption life cycle.
The intern developed a pollution prevention checklist for coffee cafes and roasting facilities, which included the use of a highly energy efficient equipment (e.g., Loring Roaster, automatic power for shutting down espresso machine), using LED lights, installing low flow faucet aerators, and encouraging customers to use reusable service ware. In line with Nossa's surcharge on disposable to-go cups, Vigil recommended providing a cup library for customers, where customers could use and then return reusable to-go cups. Using metrics from a coffee environmental footprint report conducted by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the intern suggested promoting plant-based milk alternatives to cows' milk, as these alternatives have a lower carbon footprint.