Sustainability is quickly becoming a key aspect of many food corporations worldwide. The coffee industry is no exception. From adopting regenerative agricultural practices to innovations in packaging to reduce waste, global coffee companies are implementing various solutions to lower their carbon footprint. As the industry continues to evolve, these sustainability initiatives are becoming integral to its growth strategy — reshaping how coffee is grown, sold, and enjoyed worldwide.
UAE-born Coffee Planet aims to become one of the major players leading this change. Established in 2005, the company focuses on providing freshly roasted coffee to food service, retail, and business clients. At the moment, its products are found in over 600 retail outlets across the UAE and Middle East to accommodate a growing clientele.
The company is no less committed to incorporating sustainable developments into its business operations and product range. Its approach? Driving impact across its entire value chain.
“A major challenge of the industry today is that we just talk about sustainability implementation,” Ashish Vyas, head of commercial finance at Coffee Planet, tells Sustainable Food Business. “The UN Sustainable Development Goals are a great place to start, and that’s where we began. But it goes beyond that. It’s our responsibility as a manufacturer to focus on how we can drive impact on each and every step.”
Coffee Planet: Realizing the complete journey of the bean
Much of this naturally evolves around implementing more sustainable sourcing practices — beginning with ensuring 100% traceability of its coffee beans by 2024. “We aim to approach sustainability in a holistic manner — starting with sourcing,” said Vyas. “Traceability is a major aspect for us because that’s something we can control from our side.
“That’s why we’re aiming to achieve 100% traceability of our coffee beans—so our customers are fully aware of the complete journey of a bean, from growing as a plant to reaching us as a fully realized product.”
Much of Coffee Planet’s beans are sourced from Brazil and Central America. According to Vyas, the company also hopes to impact the lives of its farmers in these areas.
“We’re looking at how we can contribute to the growth of our farmers, too,” said Vyas. “Educating them and helping them grow coffee beans in an ethical manner while minding our environment are major undertakings for us.”
Improving sustainability across the entire value chain
The beans are roasted at Coffee Planet’s UAE-based roasting facility before they are sent out to the company’s broad list of customers. In this, the company is introducing a new fleet, incorporating the use of hybrid-model cars into its logistics.
“Currently, we are using petrol-driven cars which are quite old and have a large fuel consumption,” explains Vyas. “By buying new fleets, we’re hoping to reduce our fuel consumption by 15-20% — with a hope that we could go up to a 30% reduction in fuel usage by the end of the year.”
Packaging is a large consideration for the company, as well. In 2021, Coffee Planet launched a range of biodegradable coffee capsules. These are made from 100% bio-based materials, allowing them to break down naturally when composted at home and leaving behind no harmful residue.
In other areas, Vyas points out that plastic use is still mostly prevalent in the industry, especially in cafe settings pertaining to cup size and customer demand. Due to this, going completely plastic-free has been difficult to achieve.
“We’re always open to other solutions coming into the market which are 100% free from plastic,” he says. “When we hear of new innovations, we actively reach out and discuss our options. But it’s always been a challenging element. Instead, we’ve been focusing on other aspects — rebranding our coffee capsules has been one, and our partnership with The Waste Lab has been another.”
Here, Vyas refers to the Dubai-based, woman-owned startup centering around turning coffee grounds into compost.
“So once you make a cup of coffee, The Waste Lab collects the ground wastage and uses it as organic fertilizer in farms,” says Vyas. “It also serves to promote organic farming in the UAE, where such a practice has been a big challenge. So what we are getting from the environment, we are giving back, which closes the loop of the circular economy. It embodies exactly what we are working towards.”
