CSR in the Coffee Industry: Sustainability Issues at Nestlé-Nespresso and Starbucks

  • The coffee sector’s active engagement with sustainability issues appears to be a relatively new phenomenon. Even newer is the necessity to deal with recycling and waste. Next to the waste produced by the “coffee to go” mobile drinking culture and coffee bars, the popularity of coffee capsules – i.e. single-use containers made of metal or plastics – is creating mountains of waste unknown to the traditional method of brewing coffee. The pioneer in this premium coffee sector has been Nespresso, a subsidiary and brand of the Swiss company Nestlé. Many other companies – from discount retailers to big-brand coffee shop chains like Starbucks – have copied Nespresso’s machine-and-capsule concept, adding to both the popularity and the waste problem. Next to the problem of waste production, coffee companies are addressing the problem of ethical sourcing. A key but by no means the only element is sourcing via “fair trade” schemes. Assuming that finding answers to these sustainability challenges can have a crucial impact on future sales, this article sets out to explore coffee companies’ sustainability programmes, using the examples of Nespresso and Starbucks. It finds that both firms engage in rather similar activities, but some critical differences can be identified. Both firms have a successful record in ethical sourcing. But neither has yet developed convincing waste solutions. Nespresso’s insistence on using aluminium for its capsules remains a critical issue.

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Metadaten
Author:Lisa Hamann, Kaya Luschnat, Stephanie Niemuth, Paulina Smolarz, Svenja Golombek
URN:urn:nbn:de:kobv:526-opus4-3687
DOI:https://doi.org/10.15771/2199-1618_2014_2_1_5
ISSN:2199-1618
Parent Title (English):Journal of European Management & Public Affairs Studies
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of Publication:2014
Year of first Publication:2014
Publishing Institution:Technische Hochschule Wildau
Release Date:2015/01/21
Tag:aluminium; coffee
Volume:2
Issue:1
First Page:31
Last Page:35
Faculties an central facilities:Zentrale Einrichtungen
Dewey Decimal Classification:3 Sozialwissenschaften / 33 Wirtschaft / 330 Wirtschaft
Licence (German):Creative Commons - CC BY 3.0 DE - Namensnennung 3.0 Deutschland
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