We know Slow Food. So how about "circular coffee"? That's the focus of a new sustainability project being co-developed by Italy's University of Gastronomic Sciences, headquarters of the slow food movement.
The "Center for Circular Economy in Coffee" aims to support the industry's transition to sustainability by fostering circularity, a concept for reshaping production and consumption around processes like recycling and regenerative agriculture. The idea is to establish a complete, rational system that conserves resources and reduces environmental impacts in a holistic way. The Center will promote change via systematic research, projects, and information sharing throughout the sector.
The other partners are Lavazza Foundation, the Polytechnic University of Turin, and three intergovernmental groups: the International Coffee Organization (ICO), International Trade Center (ITC), and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The project was announced in September at the World Coffee Conference held in Bangalore, India.
The Center will work with all stages and players in the coffee supply chain. It will assist growers’ communities with access to a global knowledge network and support their implementation of pilot projects. For coffee roasters, it will promote scientific research, special initiatives, and projects. Similarly, the Center will work with associations, institutions, strategic partners, research centers, and academia on development and sharing of knowledge.
"It is only by joining forces with all the other players in the coffee industry that we can give a real boost to the circular transition. Innovation and collaboration are the keywords driving our strategy," said Mario Cerutti, secretary of Lavazza Foundation, a sustainability program under Lavazza Group, the Turin-based coffee company.
"This new Center represents a valuable precompetitive area which has the potential to deliver lower impacts on environment and improve the income for coffee growers and other stakeholders: a very good reason for all the actors of the supply chain to join the group and actively participate,” Cerutti said.
Vanúsia Nogueira, executive director of the ICO, said: “Innovation is essential to improve quality, reduce risks and transform the coffee supply chain, from bean to cup and beyond, into a profitable and sustainable system capable of meeting growing demand, all while preserving natural resources and ensuring prosperity for millions of coffee farmers and workers."