1. The Swan Flew Over the Coffee
Shop
Aðalheiður Héðinsdóttir

2. • Kaffitár was founded in 1990
• Started out as a micro-roastery with 20 kg
Samiac roaster
• Today: 8 coffee shops, 2 roasters, around 150
employees
• We import specialty coffee from all over the
world and roast 250.000 kg last year.
• Opened a bakery/café in Kópavogur 2013

3. Thinking about the environment
• From the beginning we have sorted and
recycled our waste
• Started the „Green Bean“ project in 2008. The
aim was to increase waste sorting and to write
an environmental policy for Kaffitár.
Our Green Bean logo

4. Thinking about the environment
• 2009 – applied for the Nordic Eco label, the
Swan, certification
• In May 2010 our 8 coffee shops and our
kitchen received the certification
• 2012 we started using SCAA, START
sustainability tool, to improve our green
bookkeeping.

5. What is The Swan?
• A swan is a bird
• But The Swan is the
logo for the Nordic Eco label
• Type 1, third party certified
Eco label – cream of the crops
• Strict criteria you need to
follow
• A specialist visits every year
to review the operations and
renew the certification

6. START – sustainability tool
• Created by the SCAA specifically for the coffee
industry
• More applicable to the coffee industry than the Swan
• Asks coffee related questions whereas the Swan
only has a general restaurant criteria
• But not third party certified
• Helps with our green book-keeping quite a lot

7. START – sustainability tool
• 2011 donated Kaffitár $ 15.720 to charity in form of
coffee or goods. That is 178,6 $ per full time
employee witch were 88.
• 2012 donated Kaffitár $ 15.699 or 163,5 $ per
employee witch were 96.

9. The journey towards the Swan
• Many bigger and smaller changes in the dayto-day running of the coffee shops
• Most noticeable to customers: No paper cups
for coffee inside the coffee shops – only for
take-away
• Before waste was sorted into 3 categories.
Now they are 8:
– Plastic, cardboard, paper, cartons, metal, organic,
bottles & cans and general waste

10. Influence on baristas
• Two main effects
1. Staff was happy to take part and were proud of
the changes being made. People want to do
something for the grater good.
2. Staff was put into difficult situations having to
answer for changes, especially regarding paper
cups
– Still today, three years later, baristas have to answer
upset customers who want to sit with their paper
cups inside the coffee shop

11. Visible results – paper cups
8000
7000
6000
Amount of
paper cups (kg)
5000
4000
How it could
have been (kg)
3000
2000
1000
0
2009
2010
2011
2012

12. Recycling
50
40
46
30
% of total
waste 2012
20
24
30
10
0
Organic
Recycled waste
General waste

13. Chemical cleaning products
• In 2011 we used 2,66 ml of cleaning products
per guest in the coffee houses
• In 2012 we used 2,46 ml per guest
– 8% reduction between years

14. Scrubber
• 2011 In stead of an afterburner that the
health authorities required we got Boyd
Guildner to install a Scrubber.
• Using cold water to wash the smoke in stead
of burning fossil fuel

15. Numbers from START: CO2 emissions
• 2011: 0.14 kg of CO2 per guest
• 2012: 0.15 kg of CO2 per guest

16. Numbers from START: Certified coffee
80
70
60
50
% 40
2011
2012
30
20
10
0
Certified organic
coffee
Rainforest Alliance
certified coffee
UTZ certified coffee
Relationship/direct
trade coffee

17. Is it worth it to be certified?
• Being certified costs money; annual fee for the
certification.
• Time spent on collecting data and making of the
annual report.
• However, we also safe money by being certified.
– Less expenses in:
• Waste disposal
• Electricity-, fuel-, cleaning chemicals- and water use
• Paper cups and other single-use items purchase

18. Is it worth it to be certified
• Furthermore we gain
– A stronger market position
– A overview of all our operation cost and
performance.
• And
– We are doing our best for the environment and to
improve the quality of life for future generations
Yes, we think it‘s worth it

19. Thank you
Aðalheiður Héðinsdóttir
Kristín Þóra Jökulsdóttir