Coffee International Going Green with New Sustainability Certification

LOS ANGELES-- The coffee beans will remain brown, but Coffee International is taking a major step to ensure its green environmentally friendly practices continue. Coffee International has partnered with Rainforest Alliance, and has received the coffee industry’s coveted sustainability certification, ensuring a commitment and belief in fair trade and environmentally friendly practices.

For the Rainforest Alliance, the goals of the certification process are conservation of biodiversity and more prosperous lives for the coffee farmers. Among the environmental indicators of sustainability used by the certification process are protection of aquatic ecosystems, use of an integrated pest management program based on ecological principles, and reduced use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The social indicators include compliance with labor laws and international agreements, wages higher than or equal to the regional average and respect of workers’ right to organize unions and negotiate with employers.

Coffee International has met all criteria to receive the sustainability certification, and is committed to annual reviews and renewals of the sustainability certification to ensure its mission of providing premium coffee that is fair trade and being grown responsibly with sustainable agriculture growing practices continues. With coffee farms being the livelihood for more than 25 million people internationally (Goldschein, 2011), Coffee International knows the importance of being a fair trade and environmentally friendly company that hopes to set an important example for others.

For more information on the sustainability certification and Coffee International, please visit www.CoffeeInternational.com.

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For more information contact Ryan Foran, Coffee International Communications Director:

rforan@icoffee.net, work (626) 821-7764, cell (626) 803-7603

Goldschein, E. 2011. 11 Incredible facts about the coffee industry. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/facts-about-the-coffee-industry-2011-11