This page contains the bits and pieces of the collaborative efforts at our shop to minimize our footprint on the planet.
With the help of Julie North and Craig Williams we will share the reasons behind our choices and the topics we’ve explored. Julie is a graduate student at DU, and she has contributed ideas, items and enthusiasm to the Perk. Julie installed the dual flush systems on our toilets to minimize water waste, and she has conducted a Sustainability Assessment of Wash Perk. Craig Williams is the owner of Infinite Future, LLC, a sustainable consulting company. I met him at a seminar and he generously offered his services to us without pay. He is evaluating our HVAC system, lighting options and alternatives for energy use at shop.
Julie North
THIS PAGE WILL BE FLUID AND FREQUENTLY UPDATED. WE WILL ADD NEWEST INFORMATION TO TOP OF PAGE. PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR NEW INFORMATION. DON”T HESITATE TO MAKE SUGGESTIONS FOR MORE WE CAN LOOK IN TO OR ALTER
Craig Williams, Infinite Future, LLC
Updated 11/5/2011
Teri and MK flank Jeremy Lauffenburger and Janet Burgessor from The Department of Environmental Health
WASH PERK received her Certification as a Sustainable Business on October 20th, 2011. Thanks to team at the Department of Environmental Health and to Craig Williams for helping to pull it all together.
Jeremy installed 23 new energy efficient lights in Wash Perk, at no cost, and with an anticipated 1665 kWh annual energy savings and approximately $167/year. Check out Denver’s Pollution Prevention Partners program.
OUTDOOR PLANTERS:
Each planter outside of Wash Perk has been adopted by a different company or group.
SPECIAL THANKS to the generous individuals and groups that planted and cared for our outdoor planters:
GROW and Kristen Adams. Kristen has been a major supporter of Wash Perk in several ways: she had organized the running group, helped with landscaping (her love) and this year contributed the entire planter.
INFINITE FUTURE and Craig Williams. I met Craig at a class and he offered to volunteer his time and expertise to help refine Wash Perk’s sustainable practices. He has been an amazingly generous contributor to so much behind the scenes at our shop.
REVISION INTERNATIONAL and Eric Kornacki. Eric is a former barista and founder of ReVision, a non-profit that is doing amazing work in Denver. Early on he helped Wash Perk decrease waste behind our bar and he participated in developing our initial sustainability policies.
THE KRAZY LAWN GAL and Esther and Micki. This is their first year in business and they have been so generous to Wash Perk and our patrons. They organized a seedling event early in the season, they maintain our landscaping and remove our snow.
They each donated, planted, cared for and shared all of the beauty, abundance and produce with us. Please support them in any way you can. THANK YOU ALL!!!
******REUSABLE GLASS JARS for condiments: we had to move our condiments to behind the bar, as it seemed that peeps were either disposing of our jars or taking them home. We went through 96 jars in 4 months. In an attempt to avoid this waste, we are keeping them behind bar so barista can remind peeps to return to us 
Should I keep my laptop plugged in?
We were worried about that here; the amount of energy used by a constantly plugged-in laptop, the cost and source of that energy, and how effective it is for your laptop. The consensus we came across is that a laptop battery will last longer if it is used. Exercise your battery, plug it in when necessary. Use available AC power occasionally, not constantly.
Bottled Water Replacement
As you may have noticed, we have recently upgraded our bottled water to a product that is made of 100% recycled plastic. But we’re not stopping there. We’re working with Polar Bottle in Boulder to create some branded, insulated, reusable water bottles that are as bike friendly as they are eco-friendly! Filtered water is available to fill/refill reusable water bottles at no charge.
Outdoor Planters
Last year we successfully grew different herbs, vegetables and flowers in our outdoor planters. To do the same this year, we are working with local companies to sponsor these planters. All of them have received sponsors and should begin planting soon. Be on the lookout for fresh, beautiful, local plants!
Water Usage
You may have already noticed our tankless water heater in the bathroom. Using this system saves Wash Perk on resource usage – both water and electric – considerably. We are also working with Infinite Future, LLC to explore solar thermal for hot water applications. This is another easy solution that translates to your home.
bag it
From the start, Wash Perk has always made it a priority to decrease its carbon foot print. Last June, after seeing the movie Bag it (www.bagitmovie.com), a funny documentary that explores the impact of plastic on our lives, our staff and customers came up with some more ideas to reduce our contribution to the landfill. Here is what we came up with:
- 2 oz glass jars – instead of throwing away your 2 oz condiment cups, we wash and refill glass jars for people eating here![1]
- More travel mugs – hot or cold! Even though our paper cups are compostable, and our plastic cups are recyclable, it takes less energy to reuse your travel mug than to compost or recycle the disposable cups.[2]
- Re-use Java Jackets – why not?
- Reduce sweetener packet use: we have jars for bulk sweetener and also liquid sweeteners, but our traveling peeps ask to keep a few packets around. Preventing frustrated customers is good for our planet, too
- We only provide re-usable silverware in cafe’, and peeps can ask for compostable cutlery that we keep back bar. We found that lots of peeps just quickly grab what’s available, so this helps reduce accidental waste.
- Minimize trash bags – we are dumping trash into larger trash bags rather than throwing away a trash bag every time it fills up. We have reduced our trash to one bag daily.[3]
- More Glass and Aluminum Beverages from the fridge – Glass and Aluminum are more recyclable than plastic.[4] We tried using large juice containers, but no one wants to pour their own juice at a place of service.
- Switched to El Dorado Water Bottles – they are made from recycled material! We are awaiting the next step: re-usable bottles with our logo so you can refill at shop. All of these things have a cost: filters, staff to refill jug, room in shop to display. We continue to try to reduce harm and try to not undermine our core need to be financially sustainable as well.
- Reusable Containers from Vendors – Some of our vendors were delivering goods in disposable containers or plastic bags. We are working with them to use wash and reusable containers and reusable bags!
- Udi’s Containers – they are currently recyclable, but they are soon to be compostable! They hope to roll out line by summer’s end. Again, the balance of being a business, that needs customers to purchase, and being able to provide what our customers need in the most sustainable way.
[1] According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American produces about 4.4 lbs. of garbage every day. That’s 29 lbs. per week or 1,600 lbs. per year. The United States produces approximately 220 million tons of garbage each year. This is equivalent to burying more than 82,000 football fields six feet deep in compacted garbage. This amount of trash could cover the state of Texas two and half times and also fills enough trucks to form a line to the moon.
A lot of our trash ends up being buried in a landfill. The U.S. has 3,091 active landfills and over 10,000 old municipal landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Anything that goes into a landfill is covered with layers of clay and other materials that basically mummify the remains. This means that without air and water, our trash has become our archival remains for future generations. This may sound culturally resourceful, except landfills are the largest human-made methane source in the United States. Once methane is released into the air, it becomes a green house gas. And then there is the toxic leachate, or liquid that seeps and drains from a landfill, that ends up in our aquifers.
[2] Did you know? Single use disposables like water bottles, coffee cups, plastic utensils and take out containers make our lives more convenient. About 2,480,000 tons of plastic bottles and jars were disposed of in 2008 around the world. Unfortunately, plastic is not disposable and the use of these items leads to environmental degradation. After being disposed, plastic containers and water bottles get placed in over-flowing landfills, clogged rivers, and our ocean. And when the plastics break down, they do not biodegrade. Instead they break down into fragments which contaminate our natural resources.
[3] In the United States alone, an estimated 12 million barrels of oil is used annually to make the plastic bags that Americans consume. The United States International Trade Commission reported that 102 billion plastic bags were used in the U.S. in 2009. These bags often wind up in waterways or on the landscape, becoming eyesores and degrading water and soil as they break down into toxic bits. Their manufacture, transportation and disposal use large quantities of non-renewable resources and release equally large amounts of global-warming gases. Ecologically, hundreds of thousands of marine animals die every year when they eat plastic bags mistaken for food.
[4] There are many dangers involved with bisphenol A and phthalates, two additives commonly used in plastic. BPA makes plastic hard and phthalates make plastic soft. BPA and phthalates are two plastic additives that are known endocrine disruptors. We all come into contact with these toxic chemicals through our foods, personal care products, and plastic containers every day.
BPA has the characteristics of estrogen, a hormone that determines sexual traits and is key in the development of brain function and nerve cells. Recent studies have linked BPA to breast and prostate cancer, enlargement of the prostate, early onset of puberty, hyperactivity in children, obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.
Linguine Noodles as Coffee Stir Sticks
In my (Julie’s) opinion, there is nothing better than a cup o’ joe with plenty of milk and sugar. However, the one-time-use wooden stir sticks used to blend the sweet concoction together are by far one of the most unsustainable products that many coffee shops deem as integral to the coffee-milk-sugar ritual. Mainly, the wood used to create the sticks is not grown in a sustainable matter and the bits and pieces that are cut to shape the stir-stick are not reused. Moreover, the wood does not compost as quickly as say, a linguine noodle. Therefore, to promote sustainable practices, linguine noodles are more cost-effective than wooden stir sticks and are still capable of handling any stirring job—and who wouldn’t love a double mocha-flavored linguine?
Texas-sized Plastic Island
There’s a new landscape getting bigger everyday. Thanks to the over packaging of products and Mother Nature’s North Pacific Gyre, a circular wind current in the Pacific, a whirlpool consisting of mostly plastic bottles, caps, bags, and many other materials has created a new island. Literally, there is a plastic island nearly the size of Texas made from trash and materials that could have been diverted to recycling bins or reused, but instead were sent to a landfill without even the slightest chance of being reincarnated as something greater. Recycling is an integral part of Wash Perk, everything from glass bottles and cardboard gets collected and sent to the recycle receptacles. Currently, we are studying the impact of our recycling practices to figure out how much of our trash is diverted from the garbage landfills and what percentage is reused via post-consumer products.
The Many Rs of Recycling
According to The Onion, a renowned newspaper dedicated to accurate journalism, there are two additional Rs to Recycling. Of course, the mantra includes: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle and the additional Rs now include, Ryan Reynolds.
All laughs aside, Wash Perk is dedicated to recycling, and encourages customers and employees to take part in “conscience consumerism.” We buy bulk products wherever possible, which have been shown to be beneficial in cost and efficiency. We understand that you have a say in the products you buy, please vote with your dollars and choose products that are environmentally-friendly, small business oriented (i.e. Fair Trade), and above all reusable and recyclable. We continue to honor a 10c discount on reusable cups and thank all of our customers for their patronage.
Our Udi’s locally prepared and prepackaged food is a point of compromise. We can’t prepare food at the shop and it has to be individually wrapped for resale. The containers are recyclable at present, and the company is hoping to roll out compostable containers soon.
We have recycling bins near every trash bin, but we work hard to keep it simple – if you’re not sure where to put something, just drop it in the dish bin and we’ll happily sort it out.
Composting with Waste Farmers
A small business itself, WasteFarmers, headed by John Paul Maxfield, has collaborated with Wash Perk to collect compostable materials. Interestingly enough, nearly anything can be composted. A closed-loop analysis is being conducted on the products that Wash Perk uses (everything from napkins and Linguine Noodle stirrers to half-eaten scones and coffee grounds) and how composting will provide soil and dirt to the community-supported gardens in the front of the building. Please look for composting receptacles throughout Wash Perk.
For composting service at home, contact Waste Farmers or Denver Public Works. The city will only allow us one bin, so we added the service of Waste Farmers because we collect 3x as much compostable material as trash!
Got the Wiggles?
Red Wigglers, that is. This type of worm is the one responsible for breaking down materials into a rich, fertilizer called worm castings (aka worm doo) that helps to invigorate and regenerate the soil in gardens, yards, and flowerbeds. Wash Perk, together with community efforts, is in the process of repurposing a container (thanks to the generous creativity of Janice McClure) to house our newly arrived friends. They are in hiding now with the snow, but come spring these little guys (found on Craigslist for $8/pound) will consume 3-5lbs of food scraps per week. That’s more than 200 pounds of food scraps per year that will be diverted from the landfill! Check out the worm bins available in our area.
Dual Low-Flush Toilet Converters
Now, that’s a mouth full but all in all nearly 15,000 gallons of water have already been conserved since August 2010 with the installation of 2 converters at Wash Perk. Could you imagine the water saved if a city block in the local neighborhood would install these in their homes? These converters can be found at any hardware store and cost around $20. They are easily installed without tools, a good investment for the environment and for your wallet. Got water savings, anyone?
Local Business with Global Connections
From Art Contests to the development of community-supported gardens, Wash Perk is “upping the ante,” so to speak when it comes to small business development. Through Kiva, an online micro-loaning program, Wash Perk employees are supporting small businesses around the world that allow for Wash Perk to provide the coffee services so many of its customers enjoy. As a joint effort, employees pooled together the required $25 to loan initially, and with a revolving repayment design, the $25 will be paid back to the loaners to be used again and again in a variety of loaning processes. Small businesses, such as coffee farmers in South America and Central Africa will continue to benefit.
We are so very lucky to have their help and advice to help raise our own awareness so we can do less harm as a small business, and hopefully keep enjoying the process. NO SHAME…. NO FEELING BAD about the planet…. LITTLE BY LITTLE we make changes until they become habit, and we are just a little better for it
